'Opportunity cost'

$1.2 billion: One day's trading on the Australian Stock Exchange.

$1 billion: The amount needed to restore public funding of higher education in Australia to pre-1990 levels.

US$35.5 billion: One day's trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

US$30 billion: The amount needed to double rich countries' overseas development aid to the Third World. (UN estimate.)

$153 billion: Six months' trading on the Australian Stock Exchange.

$160 billion: The amount needed to fund universal provision of basic services (health, water, education) to everyone on the planet. (UN estimate.)

US$1.5 trillion: One day's trading on international foreign exchange markets.

US$1.58 trillion: The amount needed to wipe out the debt of the 92 Third World countries which most need it. (Jubilee 2000 estimate.)

US$8.9 trillion: One year's trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

US$8 trillion: The amount needed to fund the basic industrialisation of Asia, Africa and Latin America. (UN estimate.)

From GLW issue 440