Giant national debt needs giant calculator

[September 03, 2009]  MONTROSE, Colo. (AP) -- The national debt is so large, it doesn't even fit on most calculators. Western Colorado real estate developer Matt Miles says he was concerned that no one in government, nor most Americans, had ever seen the number. So he made a new calculator.

The "Big Red" calculator displays 16 digits. That's enough to show all the numbers in the national debt, which totaled nearly $11.8 trillion -- or $11,792,918,170,836.43 -- at the start of September.

Miles says he wants to get people thinking about how much the United States owes.

He wouldn't say how much he invested to launch Big Red, but he says the number fits comfortably on a standard calculator.

Big Red's price needs only four digits. It's on sale for $12.99 at Amazon.com.

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On the Net:

Big Red Calculator: http://www.bigredcalculator.com/

Treasury Department's national debt page: http://tinyurl.com/yrxrsh

[Associated Press]

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