I'm not suggesting the wealth actually is being destroyed in this case. It's a mental heuristic for comprehending large amounts. A billion dollars isn't an amo

I'm not suggesting the wealth actually is being destroyed in this case. It's a mental heuristic for comprehending large amounts. A billion dollars isn't an amount of wealth that has any real meaning to my brain compared to things that happen in my life. On the other hand, I have a very real and personal understanding of about how much a house is worth. From that, it's reasonable to get a gut understanding of an amount of cost by imagining houses being destroyed at a certain pace.