Left News and Views

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 it's releases.

1. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

2. About a billion minutes ago, the Roman Empire was in full swing. (One billion minutes is about 1,900 years.)

3. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

4. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

5. About a billion months ago, dinosaurs walked the earth.
(One billion months is about 82 million years.)

6. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the
rate our government is spending it.

7. If we wanted to pay down a billion dollars of the US debt, paying
one dollar a second, it would take 31 years, 259 days, 1 hour,
46 minutes, and 40 seconds. To pay off a trillion dollars of debt,
at a dollar a second, would take about 32,000 years.

8. A tightly-packed stack of new $1,000 bills totaling $1 billion
would be 63 miles high. In comparison, jet planes fly at 30,000 -
40,000 feet (5.7 - 7.7 miles high).

9. A billion inches is 15,783 miles, more than halfway around the
earth (circumference). 

10. The earth is about 8,000 miles wide (diameter), and the sun is
about 800,000 miles wide, not quite a million.

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 Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax < BR>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...
We had the largest middle class in the world...
and Mom stayed home to raise the kids .

What happened?
Can you spell politicians?