How to figure a Billion...

[Lorrie]

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 it's releases.


A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.


B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
[this one blows me away]



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 governmen 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 Congressfor
250 BILLION DOLLARS
to rebuild New Orleans .
Interesting number...
what does it mean?



A. Well... if you are one of the 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 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 Taxe
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Inc ome 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...




We had the largest middle class in the world...




and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.





What happened?


Can you say 'politicians!'





And I still have to

press '1'
for English.
This came from my uncle, but it kinda stunned me so I posted to see if it stuns you too.

[Braggi]

... The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about ...

Well ... it's also worth checking the validity of things like this. I found this on Snopes.com: https://www.snopes.com/inboxer/trivia/billions.asp

I wish they would have addressed the list of taxes at the end. I actually think a few of those taxes did exist a hundred years ago and that the US wasn't the richest nation on Earth at the time (I could be wrong and it also depends on how you measure wealth). Thing is, we didn't have the Interstate freeway system then, or Social Security, or Medicare, or much in the way of law enforcement or any of the other services we depend on government to provide for us.

Yes, politicians are expensive and we could use a more streamlined government, but ... taxes also pay for a lot of services we now expect.

-Jeff

[Photoguy]

:hmmm:The billion seconds, minutes etc stats are mindblowing but thinking 100 years ago things were better is confused logic. 100 years ago the KKK had real political power, Lynchings were common place, sweat shops and child labor were rampant, infant mortality numbers were horrifying, Geronimo would be dead as a prisoner of war in 1 year, after most of his tribe died of tuberculosis and cholera. The list is long, things are MUCH BETTER than that now. The racist press 1 thing for English thing is very bothersome, remember we stole huge parts of the U.S. from Mexico.

[NudeTea]

Yeah. And besides, a billion minutes ago ... I mean, I know that the general gist of the post here Lorrie is to examine the impact of "a billion" but I have to say that if Jesus were signed in here, he might say that he not only "was" alive a billion minutes ago but is still present today.

[MsTerry]

I am not quite sure how you made this connection?:hmmm:


:hmmm:The billion seconds, minutes etc stats are mindblowing but thinking 100 years ago things were better is confused logic.

These kind of conclusions only get Lorrie upset :2cents:

[Photoguy]

MsTerry, the connection was because of this "Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago..."

I meant no disrespect to Lorrie, she didn't write the posting, she received it from her uncle and asked for comments. It was in fact very interesting and worth commenting on. :):