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How many zeros in a billion?

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:29 pm
by Cuda68
Another email I recieved - Figured I would stick here instead of Cafe

The next time you hear a politician use the
word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the 'politicians' s pending
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.

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 Congress for
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 t 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
Inher itance 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
Telep hone 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 spell 'politicians!'

And I still have to
press '1'
for English.

What the heck happened?????

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:53 pm
by Dedman
Testify Brother!

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:18 pm
by Dakatsu
and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
I assumed the e-mail mean't this as in \"Mom didn't have to get a job so Mommy and Daddy could pull in enough money\", not \"The females are getting jobs, that goes against the principles of the 50s!\"

Dog License tax? Seriously?

And did the truckers or the corporations pay the \"Road Usage Tax\"?

Re:

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 6:17 am
by CUDA
Dakatsu wrote:I assumed the e-mail mean't this as in "Mom didn't have to get a job so Mommy and Daddy could pull in enough money", not "The females are getting jobs, that goes against the principles of the 50s!"
probably
Dakatsu wrote:Dog License tax? Seriously?
don't own a dog do you?
Dakatsu wrote:And did the truckers or the corporations pay the "Road Usage Tax"?
both

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:26 am
by Spidey
You know, when you boil it down, there is only one person who pays taxes.

Guess who?

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:24 am
by Foil
This one's been floating around the 'net since 2003 (Snopes page), with the Katrina stuff added more recently.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:06 am
by Testiculese
That's all the taxes they listed...jeez, that's not even 1/10...

Re: How many zeros in a billion?

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:15 pm
by Jeff250
Cuda68 wrote:A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
Birds? Kangaroos? :P

Re: How many zeros in a billion?

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:29 am
by Ferno
Jeff250 wrote:
Cuda68 wrote:A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
Birds? Kangaroos? :P
no-one means no humans. :roll:

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 5:02 am
by TIGERassault
Looks like somebody doesn't know how an economy works...

Re:

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 7:19 am
by Spidey
TIGERassault wrote:Looks like somebody doesn't know how an economy works...
Spoken like a true socialist.

Re: How many zeros in a billion?

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 1:45 pm
by Jeff250
Ferno wrote:
Jeff250 wrote:
Cuda68 wrote:A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
Birds? Kangaroos? :P
no-one means no humans. :roll:
Then why qualify the statement with "on two feet"? You could have just said, "No one walked on the earth a billion days ago," or "No one was on the earth a billion days ago." But for some reason, you say, "No one walked on the earth with two feet a billion days ago." If we assume that the statement was qualified for a reason (see Grice's maxim of relevance), then there must have been someone walking on the earth with feet != 2 a billion days ago. But these couldn't have been humans, since humans only have two feet. Therefore, someone was walking on the earth a billion days ago that wasn't human. QED. :P

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:43 pm
by Spidey
Yikes!

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 4:06 pm
by Kyouryuu
I pulled the same math on the Iraq War a few months ago. The fun part is that this gets more grotesque as the war goes on.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by the time the Iraq War is done, it will have cost $1.9 trillion. That's taking into account expenses that haven't occurred yet, such as the long-term care of wounded troops.

In the year 2007, the estimated population of Iraq was 29 million and decreasing.

That means we will have spent $65,517 for the heart and mind of each individual Iraqi, including the ones who are planting the land mines, killing our troops, and participating in terrorist networks. This is even more considerable when you realize that the average GDP per capita in Iraq is just $2,900.

Makes that $600 \"economic stimulus check\" seem like a pittance, huh?

Re: How many zeros in a billion?

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 4:45 pm
by Ferno
Jeff250 wrote:Then why qualify the statement with "on two feet"?
You should be asking Cuda that. not me.

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 8:19 pm
by Jeff250
Only good for 1 out of 2? :P

Re: How many zeros in a billion?

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:14 pm
by Cuda68
Ferno wrote:
Jeff250 wrote:Then why qualify the statement with "on two feet"?
You should be asking Cuda that. not me.
Don't ask me. I expected this thread to die out really fast :oops:

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:36 am
by DarkHorse
100 years ago there weren't a whole lot of telephones or motor vehicles to tax.

Re:

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:18 am
by Will Robinson
DarkHorse wrote:100 years ago there weren't a whole lot of telephones or motor vehicles to tax.
No but there were forms of transportation and communication that was free from taxation...