A Billion Dollars
It Is Quite A Pile Of Money
We hear politicians throwing around the word “billion” in a casual manner, as if money grew on trees.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend. To put that figure into some perspective, consider these facts.
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 your brain, take a look at the catastrophe in New Orleans, and what could be done about it.
Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu, is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. One must wonder how it would be spent. Here’s some options that I doubt were considered.
A. If each one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), got a share of the cash, each would get $516,528.
B. If each one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans were allotted a share, each home would get $1,329,787.
C. Or, if every family of four split it up, each family would get $2,066,012.
And then there’s the war in Iraq. The Cost of Iraq War calculator was set to reach $456 billion September 30, 2007.
One might wonder, “Where is all of that money coming from?” We all know the answer, and it isn’t being picked from a tree growing in Washington.
