When I was a child, I took an astronomy class at what was then the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry.

It impressed upon my young mind the vast nature of our universe and the huge distances involved between the stars and planets. I will always remember that Jupiter is about 1 billion miles from the sun. The Earth is only 93 million. I always thought it should have been an even 100 million. I've always liked even numbers.

Back then, the idea of growing up to become a millionaire was every kid's ambition and the hope of every parent. A million dollars was a huge sum of money.

Now, as the father of two small boys, I hope that by the time they grow up and have kids, they have done better than to earn just $1 million. Will they be able to afford a home for a mere million dollars in 20-odd years, or a tank of gas?

The problem is that numbers like a million and a billion have shrunk recently.

The Milky Way is roughly 100 million light-years across. I used to think this was a big number; now I turn on any news channel that is covering the economic crisis and I shudder.

Numbers coming out of Congress like $85 billion, $300 billion, $700 billion; the barrages of huge figures are coming frequently enough for me to understand values this big in a way that I could never do with astronomy.

Maybe it's because these numbers mean more to me when we're talking about money.

I love science fiction stories where people travel to the stars, but my sons and I will probably never experience space flight. They will, however, have to deal with the trillions of dollars this country has racked up as national debt.

I fear it will never get paid and my family will pay the price along with millions of others.

For our corporate leaders to fail so utterly that I have become as comfortable with billions and trillions as if they were chips on a poker table should be anything but commonplace, yet it is.

The stars are light-years away, billions and trillions of miles that once upon a time felt like unimaginable distances to me.

I feel more than a little uncomfortable that the stars feel a little bit closer now. John Sidman Simi Valley