“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money”

See how the amount donated by Americans to charity per year compares to the size of outstanding student debt. Or how Walmart’s revenue measures up against Elon Musk’s wealth. Or how the U.S. military budget stacks up against China’s… and so much more.

From the estimable David McCandless and his wonderful site Information is Beautiful, an illustration of how expenses and wealth that run to over a billion dollars compare.

“$Billions“

Then peruse “$Trillions.”

* Senator Everett Dirsen

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As we ponder the pecuniary, we might recall that on this date in 1989, Exxon Valdez, an oil supertanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company, bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound‘s Bligh Reef, 6 mi west of Tatitlek, Alaska. The tanker spilled more than 10 million US gallons of crude oil over the next few days.

The Exxon Valdez spill is the second largest in U.S. waters, after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in terms of volume of oil released. It is the costliest disaster ever with no direct human fatalities. The oil, extracted from the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field, eventually affected 1,300 miles of coastline, of which 200 miles were heavily or moderately oiled; and it wreaked havoc with the habitats salmon, sea otters, seals, and seabirds in its path.

Exxon spent an estimated $2 billion cleaning up the spill and a further $1 billion to settle related civil and criminal charges. Exxon was also assessed another $2.5 billion in punitive damages in a suit (Exxon v. Baker)… but that was reduced by the Supreme Court to roughly $500 million. Exxon remained hugely profitable– the process of payment was drawn out over decades and long term damage continues and is not funded by Exxon. Hence, the Exxon spill is often cited as shorthand in conversations about corporate responsibility as a case of accountability for societal damage inadequately enforced.

Capitalism, in theory, is great. #Capitalism, as currently practiced, doesn't work very well.

Many years ago I read Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" [1]. If you don't understand #economics but want to, it's the second book I recommend you read [2] to get there. He describes how all the parts of the system work together, what influences other actors in the system, how it incorporates diverse feedback, and more.

What we actually have today, though, only approximates what Smith describes. There's too many things gummed up with collusion and political and regulatory capture and a bunch of other things, so our #economies don't run very well.

Illustration:

Sears lasted longer in Canada than it did in the USA, but it still failed. At some point, #Sears #Canada shuttered its retail operations while it tried to figure out what to do. There was a large Sears warehouse in my city, visible from a busy freeway.

So the company had no #revenue, but ongoing #expenses - like property #taxes. Some bright spark #MBA realized unimproved real estate was taxed at lower rates than buildings, so they tore the warehouse down, razed it.

It was still completely full of #merchandise at the time. I watched it. Too much trouble to sell or give away, so off to the dump.

Then Sears went bankrupt, somebody bought the land, and built a warehouse on it.

[1] As was common then, its full title is ridiculously long.
[2] The first, much easier read is Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson".