{"id":46011,"date":"2025-08-14T11:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T11:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idea.membrane.com\/songwriter\/?p=46011"},"modified":"2025-08-14T11:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T11:48:09","slug":"a-trillion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/2025\/08\/14\/a-trillion\/","title":{"rendered":"A Trillion"},"content":{"rendered":"

A-Trillion-Pt-2B-Best-Of.mp3<\/a>
\nA-Trillion-Pt-2B-Best-Of.mp4<\/a>
\nA-Trillion-Pt-2.mp3<\/a>
\nA-Trillion-Pt-2.mp4<\/a>
\nA-Trillion-Pt-2B-B.mp3<\/a>
\nA-Trillion-Pt-2B-B.mp4<\/a>
\nA-Trillion-Pt-2B.mp3<\/a>
\nA-Trillion-Pt-2B.mp4<\/a>
\nA-Trillion-intro.mp3<\/a>
\nA-Trillion.mp3<\/a>
\nA-Trillion.mp4<\/a><\/p>\n

[Intro]
\n1, 2, 3
\n(Let’s see….)<\/p>\n

[Verse 1]
\nSpending faster than we can count
\n(Totally a staggering amount)
\nCircling the earth again and again
\n(How to count… where to begin?)<\/p>\n

[Bridge]
\nA trillion mistakes
\n(Our race at stake)<\/p>\n

[Chorus]
\nWhy don’t you count the amount
\nFor the next million years
\nCause the end of what you spend
\nAlleviate our fears<\/p>\n

[Verse 2]
\nSpending hand over fist
\n(With a fatal twist)
\nPile high to the sky
\n(Try to count it… try, try, try)<\/p>\n

[Chorus]
\nWhy don’t you count the amount
\nFor the next million years
\nCause the end of what you spend
\nAlleviate our fears<\/p>\n

[Outro]
\nA trillion mistakes
\n(Our race at stake)
\nTake, take, take
\n(More than we make)<\/p>\n

——— Part 2 B—————<\/p>\n

[Verse 1]
\nSpending faster on our disaster
\n(A staggering amount… can you count?)
\nCircling the earth ’round n’ ’round
\n(Is our accounting sound?)<\/p>\n

[Bridge]
\nA trillion mistakes
\n(Our race at stake)<\/p>\n

(Count out loud!)
\n1, 2, 3
\n(Count with me)
\n… 6, 7, 8
\n(Too late to debate)<\/p>\n

[Chorus]
\nWhy don’t you count the amount
\nFor the next million years
\nCause the end of what you spend
\nAlleviate our fears<\/p>\n

[Verse 2]
\nSpending well beyond our means
\n(Scenes of obscene)
\nThe height of the bills
\n(Higher than the hills)<\/p>\n

[Outro]
\nA trillion mistakes
\n(Our race at stake)
\nTake, take, take
\n(More than we make)<\/p>\n

ABOUT THE SONG
\nAt seventeen, I was a freshman studying economics at West Chester University. At the time, the national debt of the United States was $827 billion. In a course on fiscal spending and debt, we discussed how short-term political interests are difficult to account for in economics. I suggested that anyone authorizing government spending should be required to physically count each dollar before it could be spent. This would ensure that a politician would spend the rest of their life counting the money\u2014long before they could ever spend it. (If you counted eight hours a day, seven days a week, it would take roughly 190 years to reach 1 billion.)<\/p>\n

In August of 2025, the US federal debt is 37 trillion dollars. In January 2020, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that gross federal debt would not surpass $37 trillion until after fiscal year 2030.<\/p>\n

1. Weight of $37 trillion in $1 bills<\/h3>\n