This is too true to be funny.
The next time you hear a politician use the word ‘billion’ in a casual manner, think about whether you want the ‘politicians’ spending YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.
A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let’s take a look at New Orleans. It’s amazing what you can learn with some simple division. Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean?
Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.
Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.
Washington, D. C… HELLO! Are all your calculators broken??
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),
Liquor Tax,
Luxury Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Service charge taxes,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Sales Taxes,
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Excise Tax,
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax,
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Telephone State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle License Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Watercraft Registration Tax,
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What happened?
Can you spell ‘politicians?’
And I still have to ‘press 1′ for English.
I hope this gets at least 1 billion hits.
I like what someone has done to try to put a billion into perspective. The problem here is that the math ranges from suspect, to flat out wrong. It amazes me how many erroneous “facts” are floating around the internet and people just take it for the truth without thinking twice. I did a little research and math of my own, and came up with the following. The letters below correspond to the points in the original post. (Oh, and lest I come across as too bombastic, please read this as a bit of a humorous tirade. I had fun with it and I hope you enjoy having the record set straight
A. My math says that a billion seconds is 31.7 years. 2008 – 32 = 1976 Off by 17 years!
B. Not too far off – the year 106 A.D.
C. Saying that a billion hours ago our ancestors were in the stone age is like someone asking you where you live and you answer “The Milky Way Galaxy.” The Stone Age is generally considered to end at 8000 BC and start around 600,000 – 700,000 BC. A billion hours is approximately 114120 years so you could say that a billion hours ago our ancestors were in the Stone Age…….or two billion hours ago…….or three billion hours ago……..or four, or five, or six. Can I have a little more precision please?
D. A billion days is 2.7 million years. Need a definition of what is meant by “no one”. There is evidence of bipedalism 3.7 million years ago (look up footprints left by Australopithecus afarensis in volcanic ash in Laetoli, Kenya).
E. Okay, check my math on this one: The latest estimate I could find for U.S. spending in 2008 is $2.918 trillion. This is from the federal Office of Management and Budget (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/pdf/08msr.pdf). $2.918 trillion / 525600 minutes in a year = $5,551,750 per minute. 1 billion / 5,551,750 = 180 minutes, or 3 hours to spend a billion dollars. They’re only off by over a hundred percent.
Lousiana:
A. HOW COULD THEY SCREW THIS UP? IT’S JUST SIMPLE DIVISION! $250 billion / 484,674, rounded to the nearest dollar, is $515,811, not $516,528.
B. Again, simple division and they can’t do it! $250 billion / 188,251 = $1,328,014 (rounded again). Not $1,329,787.
C. No, No, No! 4 X $515,811 = $2,063,244. Their answer for this one wasn’t even right if you used THEIR answer for A: It would be $2,016,112, not $2,016,012.
And then we come to the most hilarious line in the e-mail:
“Washington , D.C .. HELLO!!! … Are all your calculators broken??”
All I can say is, see Matthew 7:3-5
Please send this to my email..Thanks. Bill
Thanks to Mike for his mighty fine research.