For future reference, I’m accumulating reference points for illustrating the magnitude of the huge bank settlements we are seeing.
Previously mentioned the annual billings of Big 4 accounting firms. Here are two more reference points –
Election cost in U.S. – $4B / $6B / $10B – According to this site (which was the first one I found that had the info I wanted so I stopped looking), the cost of congressional elections was $3.6B in 2010. The cost of congressional and presidential elections in 2012 was $6.3B. So the federal elections in 2010 and 2012 cost $9.9B.
Cost to build a new aircraft carrier – $13B – Construction cost of the newest aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Gerald Ford, is estimated at $12.8B per Wikipedia.