what is a billion?

edited June 2008 in All Encompassing Trip
Got this in an email so sorry if already been seen, but interesting still....

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 wereliving 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), youeach 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 familygets $2,066,012.

Washington , D.C . HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken??

And where does this money come from?

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 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. (god I hate this)
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Slip KidSlip Kid Posts: 1,175

    And I still have to 'press 1' for English. (god I hate this)

    I absolutely fucking agree with this.

    So fucked up

    I agree with the whole thing it's such a shame
    I just don't trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn't die.
  • finnanniefinnannie Posts: 1,186
    amazing. there's nothing more to say to this. amazing.
    Won't let the light escape from me.
    Won't let the darkness swallow me.
  • stylo17stylo17 Posts: 1,001
    "press '1' for English"

    anyone care to expand on this for me?? I understand what it means and where you would have to do that, but what's the big deal about it?
    6/11/08 WPB


    ♬♪♫ and I will not, grow tired of crayon stars and fire

    ♬♪♫ cause a soldier's death is so much better than defeat just hanging around
  • hoopinmanhoopinman Posts: 294
    this would be great were it to be true

    SNOPES.COM IS YOUR FRIEND

    http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/trivia/billions.asp

    Furthermore, I'd have no problem with that kind of money to rebuild NOLA even if it was true. (it's old news -- 2005 -- and no longer valid... completely moot in fact!) And we'd be talking about levies and canals and rebuilding wetlands, not dividing the money up between families. But if you want to count billions in IRAQ terms, now let's talk...
  • stylo17 wrote:
    "press '1' for English"

    anyone care to expand on this for me?? I understand what it means and where you would have to do that, but what's the big deal about it?

    because its AMERICA, and it should be a given that English is the spoken language, not somehting else and if you happen to speak English 'press 1'
  • hoopinman wrote:
    this would be great were it to be true

    But if you want to count billions in IRAQ terms, now let's talk...

    just was an email I got, and forwarded on as I knew it would get people talkin'..... ;)

    but there are some very valid points in there
  • hoopinmanhoopinman Posts: 294
    I hear ya...but many of those taxes dont and will never apply to me. The numbers mentioned could be used for many other things besides paying people back. Like I said earlier, building levies,canals etc.

    What I find odd about that email is the number of people that react to it, react to the "press 1 for English"

    My family emigrated to the USA when I was a child. They only spoke one language. They went to school, learned and gave their family a life outside of our dismal life we had. I speak fluent English now and you wouldnt even know I came from another country. But this whole "your in America speak English" is bullshit. My father speaks very broken English, and this might piss people off...but hes also a Rhodes Scholar from Harvard and graduated with 2 degrees!

    It just pisses me off that people take things from that email and spin it for their own hatred....and its sad.
  • stylo17stylo17 Posts: 1,001
    because its AMERICA, and it should be a given that English is the spoken language, not somehting else and if you happen to speak English 'press 1'


    well, yes but America is also the "Melting Pot" of the world so I think it's pretty easy to see why they'd offer other languages.

    we live in a land of immigrants. and unless you're a Native American, you're an immigrant too.
    6/11/08 WPB


    ♬♪♫ and I will not, grow tired of crayon stars and fire

    ♬♪♫ cause a soldier's death is so much better than defeat just hanging around
  • he still standshe still stands Posts: 2,835
    hoopinman wrote:
    this would be great were it to be true

    SNOPES.COM IS YOUR FRIEND

    http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/trivia/billions.asp

    Furthermore, I'd have no problem with that kind of money to rebuild NOLA even if it was true. (it's old news -- 2005 -- and no longer valid... completely moot in fact!) And we'd be talking about levies and canals and rebuilding wetlands, not dividing the money up between families. But if you want to count billions in IRAQ terms, now let's talk...

    LOL well that webside basically validates those statistics... sure some of them are off by a few years, but they are pretty darn close. In fact, the spending part is UNDERSTATED!!! It should be closer to EVERY FOUR HOURS that the fed gov't spends a billion dollars...
    Everything not forbidden is compulsory and eveything not compulsory is forbidden. You are free... free to do what the government says you can do.
  • Excellent post.

    F-ing insane isn't it?

    Perhaps not harsh enough words to describe that level of insanity.

    I think perhaps time to trash can the government and start over again with honest people that can count instead of steal as their prime directive.
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • westsidepiewestsidepie Posts: 627
    A thousand million?
    To pie I will reply
    But mr. justam
    is who I am

    "That's a repulsive combination of horrible information and bad breath."-Pickles

    "Remember, death is a natural part of the workplace. So, when you see a dead body at work, don't freak out, just ring your death bell." "ting"-Toki Wartooth
  • As for New Orleans, that still pisses me off. Where the fuck did all that money go? Even if each person got half of what they were supposed to get....theives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I will hold the candle until it burns up my arm. I'll keep taking punches until their will grows tired. I will stare the sun down until my eyes go blind. I won't change direction and I won't change my mind.
  • PJamGrunge10PJamGrunge10 California Posts: 596
    stylo17 wrote:
    unless you're a Native American, you're an immigrant too.

    That is incorrect. We are descendents of immigrants.
    Stone Gossard...riffmeister extraordinaire!

    I am a man, I am advanced.....I am the first man to borrow Stone's leather pants!
  • CollinCollin Posts: 4,931
    You weren't aware of what a billion was before?

    Anyway, what's the big deal about pressing 1 for English. The US doesn't have an official language at federal level. Either way, even if it did, I still wouldn't understand people's frustrations about it. Now, if you had to press 9, that would be a different story ;)
    THANK YOU, LOSTDAWG!


    naděje umírá poslední
  • xscorchoxscorcho Posts: 409
    i have no problem pushing the one for english.

    right now i live in a country with 4 official languages and i speak none of them... i am so glad that most businesses have an english option!
  • LikeAnOceanLikeAnOcean Posts: 7,718
    That is incorrect. We are descendents of immigrants.
    And Native Americans were once immigrants too.. from Asia.
  • restlesssoulrestlesssoul Posts: 6,951
    grat post, a billion hours ago, jesus was alive. woah
    Van '98, Sea I+II '00, Sea '01, Sea II '02, Van '03, Gorge, Van, Cal, Edm '05, Bos I+II, Phi I+II, DC, SF II+III, Port, Gorge I+II '06, DC, NY I+II '08, Sea I+II, Van, Ridge , LA III+IV' 09, Indy '10, Cal, Van '11, Lond, Van, Sea '13, Memphis '14, RRHOF '17, Sea I+II '18, Van I+II, Vegas I+II '24
  • libragirllibragirl Posts: 4,632
    because its AMERICA, and it should be a given that English is the spoken language, not somehting else and if you happen to speak English 'press 1'

    exactly..it frustrates the crap out of me when you get one of those automated menus but those menus are frustrating anyway..I usually end up pressing "0"

    This is interesting..thank you for posting it.
    These cuts are leaving creases. Trace the scars to fit the pieces, to tell the story, you don't need to say a word.
  • chiquimonkeychiquimonkey Posts: 9,337
    pressing 1 doesn't bother me, having to do 9-digit combinations to talk to a human being does though.

    but yeah, this country was built with immigrants.

    and 'america' was named after an italian :)
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