Something About Software and Microscopically Small Things...

Do you think Bill Gates ever says, “Another day, another 33 million dollars”?

He might, but probably not in a very ho-hum sort of way.  

People still use the expression "Another day, another dollar."  Why they do this is a little fuzzy.  

See, the phrase originated in or around 1897 by for-hire sailors who were paid by the day.  Of course, the phrase at the time was "More days, more dollars," and it evolved since then.  Best guess is that somewhere in the 1950s, the final "Another day, another dollar" phrase was more formally coined, though nobody knows who did it.  So there you go. 

Adjusting for inflation is tricky because of this.  If you assume 1897, then it's ambiguous just how many dollars you're talking about.  But, if we juxtapose the single-dollar version into the phrase, then by 2015 standards, you're looking at "More days, 28.57 more dollars."  If you take only the 1950s version (and we'll go with 1955 as a nice average and save the clock tower while we're at it), then a more timely phrase would be "Another day, another 8 dollars and 85 cents."  It's more accurate, but admittedly not as catchy.  

Even if we go with the older version, we're not dealing with a lot of money, though.  If you're working another day to earn $28.57, assuming an 8-hour shift, you're making just over $3.57 an hour.  This is well below minimum wage, so I certainly hope you're getting tips.  Just to stay above the official government poverty threshold for a single person, you need to get up to "Another day, another $32.24."  So, "Another day, another 1897 dollar" just doesn't cut it, sadly. 

Bill Gates doesn't have much to worry about in the poverty department.  Mr. Gates started a small software company you may have heard of a while back and grew it into a massive computing empire, and that's to his credit.  He'll make somewhere in the neighborhood of 11.5 billion dollars this year.  A fun fact about me and Bill Gates...we average 5.75 billion dollars a year in salary!  When people walk up to him and say "Hey, Bill...how's it going?" he can reply with "Another day, another 33 million dollars."