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 and child), you each get $516,528.
B. Or if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787.
C. 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 T ax > > Estate Tax (they tax you for dying) > > 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 Ta x > > 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 Su rcharge Tax > > Telephone Minimum Usage Su rcharge 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 history of 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 what, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 19:52 (sixteen years ago) link
oh andy rooney, youve done it again
― and what, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 19:53 (sixteen years ago) link
ha, biggest middle class in 1908? tuff
― gff, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 19:56 (sixteen years ago) link
The United States has had public debt since its inception. Debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation led to the first yearly reported value of $75,463,476.52 on January 1, 1791. Over the following 45 years, the debt grew, briefly contracted to zero on January 8, 1835 under President Andrew Jackson but then quickly grew into the millions again.[42][43] The first dramatic growth spurt of the debt occurred because of the Civil War. The debt was just $65 million in 1860, but passed $1 billion in 1863 and had reached $2.7 billion following the war. The debt slowly fluctuated for the rest of the century, finally growing steadily in the 1910s and early 1920s to roughly $22 billion as the country paid for involvement in World War I.[44] The buildup and involvement in World War II brought the debt up another order of magnitude from $51 billion in 1940 to $260 billion following the war. After this period, the debt's growth closely matched the rate of inflation until the 1980s, when it again began to increase rapidly. Between 1980 and 1990, the debt more than tripled. The debt shrank briefly after the end of the Cold War, but by the end of 2005, the gross debt had reached $7.9 trillion, about 8.7 times its 1980 level.[45]
― max, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Are all your calculator's broken?
― wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:13 (sixteen years ago) link
The United States has had public debt since its inception. Debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation led to the first yearly reported value of $75,463,476.52 on January 1, 1791. Over the following 45 years, the debt grew, briefly contracted to zero on January 8, 1835 as President Andrew Jackson got the bitch back home with the kids.[42][43]
^^ fixed
― gff, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:14 (sixteen years ago) link
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY??
― deeznuts, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:14 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/detail/579567b.jpg
― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Oops wrong thread.
― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:15 (sixteen years ago) link
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend
― max, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:15 (sixteen years ago) link
so many zeroes!!!
and thinking about what happened a billion seconds ago really changed my perception of a billion dollars.
― mizzell, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:18 (sixteen years ago) link
cash sitta
― deej, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:19 (sixteen years ago) link
the billion dollar cash sitta
― and what, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:19 (sixteen years ago) link
the amount of sperm in 500 milliliters of semen
― remy bean, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:21 (sixteen years ago) link
F. If you sat on a billion dollars, you'd be sitting in SPACE
― max, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:21 (sixteen years ago) link
Wasn't it ~1976 a billion seconds ago? Or am I making a mistake?
― dowd, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:23 (sixteen years ago) link
no, you're right
― remy bean, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:25 (sixteen years ago) link
<I>Wasn't it ~1976 a billion seconds ago? Or am I making a mistake?
-- dowd, Tuesday, April 1, 2008 8:23 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- remy bean, Tuesday, April 1, 2008 8:25 PM (12 seconds ago) Bookmark Link
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wasn't it ~1976 a billion seconds ago? Or am I making a mistake?
</I>
I believe we have a new record for 'bored at the office.'
― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:26 (sixteen years ago) link
lol i calculated it too
― deej, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:26 (sixteen years ago) link
easy: 1000000000 / (365.25 x 24 x 60 x 60) =
― remy bean, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:27 (sixteen years ago) link
ooh you even did the .25
― deej, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:28 (sixteen years ago) link
advanced
― gff, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:28 (sixteen years ago) link
I R factchecker.
― dowd, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:29 (sixteen years ago) link
haha i bet this shit has been around since 1991
― max, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:29 (sixteen years ago) link
we werent spending money then, a republican was president
― and what, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:30 (sixteen years ago) link
ooh you even did the .25-- deej, Tuesday, April 1, 2008 4:28 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
-- deej, Tuesday, April 1, 2008 4:28 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
danger:~ $ date -r `date +%s-1000000000|bc` Sat Jul 24 14:52:43 EDT 1976
― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:40 (sixteen years ago) link
According to Google, there are approximately 8 billion web pages on the World Wide Web today.
A billion doesn't seem so big now, does it?
― wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:43 (sixteen years ago) link
A billion toenails would be RAELLY GROSS.
― nickalicious, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Top Posters So Far This Month
J0rdan S. 1,000,000,000
― and what, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 20:47 (sixteen years ago) link
In Zimbabwe you can buy 1 BILLION DOLLAR for just 34,000 dollars!
In France a billion is a million millions! IT COULD HAPPEN HERE! SEE WHERE COMMUNIST TAXES AND "STEALIN"ISM GETS YOU!
We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. Awesome.
― Øystein, Tuesday, 1 April 2008 21:26 (sixteen years ago) link
What the shit is this? Man was created 2,190,000 years ago, not a billion! Heresy.
― Abbott, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 01:49 (sixteen years ago) link
there's this weird rhetorical thing these emails always do toward the end where they shift in tone, sometimes the most jokey ones will suddenly launch into "I hope you dance" or something - I have a suspicion that this is, like, emblematic of some greater truth about people or the age or something but haven't worked it out yet
― J0hn D., Wednesday, 2 April 2008 01:55 (sixteen years ago) link
1. poorly researched factoid X 2. poorly researched factoid Y 3. make tenuous connection between X and Y
― Curt1s Stephens, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 02:06 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/trivia/billions.asp
I especially like how the writer's "simple division" tries to lead us to believe that the citizens of New Orleans would be pocketing all this tax money, and not a penny of it would be used to rebuild roads, schools, sewers, historic landmarks, public utilities, libraries, and other civic buildings.
― naus, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 04:34 (sixteen years ago) link