What is a billion?

[mn shutterbug]

What is a Billion? 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. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. 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?


A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get over $500,000.

B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets over $1,300,000.

C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets over $2 million.

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 Perm it 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
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 could home to raise the kids if she wanted to.

What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!'

And I still have to 'press 1' for English.

I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times

What the heck happened?????

[Frog]

Someone noticed on their diesel delivery bill a 'lust' tax and called a local radio show to ask what it was. Of course there were many humorous replies until someone in the know called to tell everyone it was a 'leaking underground storage tank' tax.

If I lived in New Orleans I'd just ask for the money and move somewhere else.
Heck if they gave everyone in New Orleans their share of the money, they'd probably do a better job of spending it than the government.

[GB1]

There is no way in hell I'd approve any $ for rebuilding New Orleans until they first build seawalls (lake walls) to withstand a CAT 4 hurricane.

Without a plan, it's throwing $ down the drain (literally, actually).

My grandmother used to complain that everything was "million this, million that." Now it's billion.

It's scary how expensive it is for everything nowadays. And they still can't balance a budget. California had propositions awhile back for selling bonds to raise money to perform maintenance on infrastructure. Maintenance!??! They don't even have the funds in the general fund for maintenance??! What the heck are they spending the tax $ on then??