What is $60 billion?

During the global financial crisis it was officially reported that the combined losses of the two SWFs were $60b. It was a staggering figure and many people put a lot of 0s behind it, ie $ 60,000,000,000 to show how big this number is. But do they really register, how big is this sum of money?
 
The Philippines announced a budget of $20m to acquire navy boats to compete with China for control over the disputed islands in the South China Seas. Damn big deal. India announced a budget of $3b to purchase weapons to want to be a super power. Another damn big deal. All these are nothing compare to the $60b that was lost. Got any idea how big is this $60b? It can build 30 Gardens by the Bay all over the island but would not be able to find any spare land to take more than 3. We would not have the land for 30 Gardens by the Bay in the island. What about the $6b to buy the super expensive toys called F35s at $300m each for 20 pieces? $60b can buy 200 pieces of F35s!
 
I don’t think many of you would get the picture still. Using a workforce of 2m and each contributing $200 pm to the CPF this will mean $400m into the CPF per month or $4.8b per annum. Actually it could be more than $6b if bonuses are included. It would thus take 10 years to contribute $60b by the whole work force at today’s income level.
 
15 to 20 years of CPF contributions of the whole workforce
 
To collect $60b from a smaller workforce and a smaller income base like the last two decades, it would likely take 15 to 20 years to reach $60b. Now you get the picture of how big this $60b sum is? It is the equivalent of15 to 20 years of the whole workforce’s CPF contribution to lose in one go.
 
Of course today more than $60b could have been collected since the financial crisis in CPF to cover up this loss. But if hypothetically the $60b were CPF money, the loss would not and cannot be covered as the new money must be returned to the CPF contributors when due. It is just new money to pay for loss of old money as a stop gap measure. Uh, did someone say no need to pay back with all the changes to the CPF system? Really? CPF not your money any more?
 
Let’ take it that the $60b is not CPF money, so there is nothing to worry about your CPF savings. The point of this article is to show how big a sum of money is $60b with the CPF savings used only for reference and comparison purposes. Imagine the equivalent of 15 ot 20 years of contributions by the whole workforce gone in a smoke.

Kopi Level - Blue, thank you.