Imagine if the Powerball had no winner on Wednesday .... the jackpot could have reached toward a Billion dollars, which brings this week's SoJO Word of the Week.

Remember when the idea of a Million dollars seemed like a great deal of money?  When you think about it, you will probably make a Million in your lifetime.  If you average $25,000 in income a year for 40 years you will make a Million, which may be why the 66 people who won the $1,000,000 or $2,000,000 consolation prize in the recent Powerball will not retire.

To give an idea how difficult to make a Billion is, if you worked for 50 years and averaged $100,000 annually, you only have gotten half way to the Billion mark.

We are at the point that it takes several hundred million before the attention is gotten by many.  Now imagine how crazy this weekend would have been if the Powerball reached 1 BILLION DOLLARS.  Based on sales increasing the jackpot and the initial amount probably starting in the $850-$875 Million range, the Billion would more than likely happened.

A Billion is defined as "One Thousand Million", is scientifically defined as 10 to the 9th power.

How rare is a Billionaire?  We have seen an increase of these people over the last decade, and yet only 1226 exist in the world (up from 470 in 2000).  The most famous of these entrepreneurs include Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Warren Buffett.

A Billion is a landmark in the movie industry, as only 13 movies have eclipsed $1 Billion in worldwide box office business.  Skyfall, the latest James Bond flick, could become #14 as the film is over $800 Million worldwide in less than a month.

The world population is over 7 Billion, and only 2 countries can say they have over a Billion people in population (China around 1.35 Billion, and India around 1.22 Billion).  Asia is currently the only continent with population in the Billions (over 4.1 Billion), but that will change soon as Africa is approaching the Billion mark.

We could have been dreaming of that Billion, but alas this will have to wait for another time - proving once again how rare this word is used in our lifetime.

 

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