A Billion, it's Nothing . . . Or Is It?

How many zeros in a billion?  We have become desensitized to these large numbers and I thought it would help to put them in perspective.  We are only talking about billions, yet our government is throwing around trillions of dollars, so just imagine how much more horrifying this would be if we looked at trillions instead of billions.

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 real life example.  After hurrican Katrina, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) requested Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans.  Interesting number....what does it mean?  Let's examine it by doing some simple division:

• Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child) you would get $516,528.
• Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your household would get $1,329,787.
• Or... if you are a family of four... your family would get $2,066,012.

Are you serious?  Washington, D.C., HELLO! Are all your calculators broken??  Wouldn't we have been much better off just offering $250,000 to each household and have them repair/rebuild their homes by employing workers in the local market?  Think of the multiplier effect of doing that!!

We need sanity back in government, and the realization that "We the People" , not the government, are the solution to our problems.