In 1626 Peter Minuit, first governor of New Netherland, purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians for about $24. … Assume for simplicity a uniform rate of 7% from 1626 to the present, and suppose that the Indians had put their $24 at interest at that rate … and had added the interest to the principal yearly. What would be the amount now, after 280 years? 24 × (1.07)280 = more than 4,042,000,000. [The current value of Manhattan is] a little more than $4,898,400,000. … The Indians could have bought back most of the property now, with improvements; from which one might point the moral of saving money and putting it at interest!
– W.F. White, A Scrap-Book of Elementary Mathematics, 1908
Haha that's some good reasoning...next time they bitch and moan I'll just say, "It's not my fault your forefathers were bad with money and didn't invest that $24."
I'm going to hell...
Seriously, $4 billion...thats pretty damn good.
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