Amazing things Apple can do with its $97.6 billion cash

Apple now has $97.6 billion in cash. Last year the company increased its cash hoard by nearly $38 billion. That means Apple was adding $1,200 to its cash pile every second.

Let's have a look at what Apple can do with its $97.6 billion cash reserve, according to fool.com and Huffingtonpost.com.

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58th-largest country

In GDP terms, Apple's cash pile alone would make it the 58th-largest country.

That's ahead of global hot spots Iraq and Libya while just trailing Qatar, a country with enough economic clout that it was selected to host a World Cup.

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Team owner

At its current Forbes valuations, Apple could buy every single NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL team - and still have $31 billion left in the bank.

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Paying for education

After next quarter, Apple's cash hoard will be able to pay the entire total the United States government's costs for education in a year.

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Marshall Plan

In two quarters, Apple's cash hoard will be able to pay for the inflation-adjusted cost of the Marshall Plan ($115 billion).

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Corporate taxes

By the end of next year, Apple's cash hoard will be larger than all of the corporate taxes America collected in 2009 ($138 billion).

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Google's sales

Apple's total profits were more than Google's entire sales last quarter. And the two numbers weren't even close, either; Apple's profit of $13.1 billion was 23 per cent larger than Google's total sales.

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Microsoft

Remember when Microsoft "bailed" Apple out in 1997? Apple's profit last quarter was 20 times greater than how much money Microsoft's "monopoly" was making at the time.

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Phone sales

Apple sold about 17 million more phones in 2011 than in the previous four years combined.

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Other products

While the iPhone accounts for 53 per cent of Apple's sales, Apple's other products were no slouches, either.

Last quarter, the iPad (15.4 million units) outsold all of Hewlett-Packard's computer sales (15.1 million). Tablet sales overtook desktop PC sales in the United States.

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Market cap

Apple's market cap ($417 billion) would make it the 24th-largest country in the world in terms of GDP. That's right below oil giant Saudi Arabia.

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Beating expectations

The company had sales last quarter that were more than $7 billion higher than analysts expected. That's greater than the total sales of all but 22 technology companies - and there are more than 7,000 publicly traded tech companies.

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Research and development

Apple spent only 1.6 per cent of sales in last quarter on research and development.

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Missions to Mars

The computer giant can afford to pay for 216 missions to Mars.

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Students' loans

It can pay off students' loans for a whole year in the United States.

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Rival phone makers

Apple can afford to buy Samsung, HTC, Nokia, RIM, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson, which in November 2011 had a combined value of $78 billion.

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California's budget

California has a projected budget of $97.6 billion for the next year, and Apple can easily take care of it.

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Germany's budget cuts

The European nation plans to make $97.6 billion in budget cuts before 2014, and Apple can fill the gap.

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Foreign aid

Between 1946 and 1963 the United States paid out $97.6 billion in foreign aid. Apple can donate the money to the government.

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac writedown loan

Apple can take care of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac writedown loan.

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