Most people will have read the recent reports of how Microsoft chairperson Bill Gates has had his personal net worth soar over US$40 billion. He certainly knows how to make money.
Consider that he made this money in the 22 years or so since Microsoft was founded. If you presume that he has worked 14 hours a day on every business day of the year since then, that means he's been making money at a staggering $500,000 per hour, around $150 per second.
This means that if, on his way into the office, should he see or drop a $500 bill on the ground, it's just not worth his time to bend over and pick it up. He would make more just heading off to work.
We're assuming about four seconds to bend down and pocket the bill. Of course, he can afford to hire people to follow him around and pick up any $500 bills he may drop.
It's perhaps more disturbing to look at the slope of his appreciation this year. From January to July he's gained some $16 billion. At that rate, if he sees a $10,000 bill, he's just as well to pass it by. (They do exist, but he won't see one until he buys the US Treasury — they are not circulated.)
The "too-small-a-bill-for-Bill" index has gone up quite a bit over the years. When Microsoft went public in 1986, the new multi-millionaire only had to leave behind $5 bills.
If it's a pile of cash he has to count, it's even worse. At $2500 per second so far this year, they would have to be thousand-dollar bills — and he would need to have a quick hand — to avoid losing the money in wasted time while he's counting it. Counting $500 bills would be very unprofitable.
Another way to examine this sort of wealth is to compare it to yours.
Consider the average person of reasonable but modest wealth. Perhaps she has a net worth of $100,000. Mr Gates' worth is 400,000 times larger, which means that if something costs $100,000 to him/her, to Bill it's as though it costs 25 cents. You can work out the right multiplier for your own net worth.
So, for example, you might think a new Lamborghini Diablo would cost $250,000, but in Bill Gates' dollars that's 63 cents.
That fully loaded, multimedia, active matrix 233 MHZ laptop with the 1024 x 768 screen you've been drooling after? — A penny.
A nice home in a rich town like Palo Alto, California? — Two dollars.
You might spend $100 on tickets, food and parking to take your family to see a hockey game. Bill, on the other hand, could buy the team for 100 Bill-bills.
You might buy a plane ticket on a Boeing 747 for $1200 at full fare. In Bill-bills, Mr Gates could buy three 747s — one for him, one for Melinda and one for young Jennifer Katherine.
[From Michael Ballard on iww.news.]