Posted on 05/22/2008 7:25:12 PM PDT by CHEE
This is good and oh so true!!!!!!!!!!!!
Subject: A Billion
How many zeros in 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 $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 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 goes around the USA at least 100 times What the heck happened?????
A billion carbon credits ago Al Gore didn’t exist.
Interesting. I’m in my early 30s and remember when I was a child during the Reagan years, and on the politicians and commentators mentioned something costing in the tens or hundreds of millions and people were amazed at the expense. Now, it seems people are desensitized with the numbers. A billion, ten billion, a hundred billion, half a trillion, and even a trillion. The American people just no longer care. This creates an environment where when someone hears of a pork project in some congressional district costing $50 million, they just don’t care because $50 million seems like nothing compared to the billion and trillion numbers I just mentioned, that get thrown around in budget talks like it’s nothing.
What’s funny is NONE of this money exists in reality. It’s all a bunch of IOUs back by the federal reserve printing a bunch of worthless paper.
YES, we ARE headed for hell in our hand basket. Call your congressman and thank them.
The American billion is small compared to the British one. :)
I prefer to think of a billion dollars given away by Congress in this context:
You and your spouse have two kids, one 4 yrs and one in diapers.
When Congress gives away one Billion dollars, it costs you and your spouse 3 dollars each and it’s 3 dollars out of your 4 year old’s allowance and 3 dollars out of your newborn’s diaper.
If the numbers get too high or you don’t personally pay a lot of tax, the Congressional giveaways just add to the deficit.
The American billion is small compared to the British one. :)
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I feel that the term “Billion” should be “one million million” as the Brits do and not “one thousand million”.
“What’s funny is NONE of this money exists in reality. It’s all a bunch of IOUs back by the federal reserve printing a bunch of worthless paper.”
Where this money exists; and where it is NOT worthless...is in the net borrowings of the US Treasury. Without going into the specifics of whom is (or is not) printing, whom is borrowing...intense borrowing is indeed going on. And it is impacting the value of the dollar, as we are seeing in the relentless purchasing-power decline of the USD.
For the sake of bailing out the Wall St and money center banks; the losses from their egregrious speculative activity is gradually but relentlessly being imposed upon taxpayers in the form of vicious price inflation. The 3+ points opened up between the Fed Funds rate and prevailing mortgage rates has benefitted the typical homeowner maybe 1/2 point, at best.
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