How many zeros in a billion?

G

Gene Ford

Guest
I recieved this in an e-mail so I don't know how true it is, but does give one pause to wonder about just what is going on.


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.


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 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!'

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

I hope this goes around the
USA
at least 100 times

What the heck happened?????


Gene
 
Forgetting the homeless or the politics of disaster, the math in the beginning statement is flawed somewhat, even though the suggestion that a billion is a lot in time.

We shooters strive on accuracy, so I took it on myself to check this out.

1 billion seconds ago, it was 1976.

1 billion minutes ago it was 107 AD.

Do the math and don't forget the leap years.

A billion dollars is not so much if you have 20 billion more or less.

Concho Bill
 
Two sizes of billion...

I googled one billion ... here is an interesting answer...

How big is a billion dollars?

Just how big is a billion dollars? Well, to answer that question you must understand exactly what is meant by one billion. The answer is not as clear cut as you might expect.

Of course, most everyone knows that one million is a number with six zeros (1,000,000) and is one thousand thousand. However, although the number one million is the same magnitude (size) around the world, the number one billion is not the same in the United States as it is in the United Kingdom.

In fact, the US billion is much SMALLER than the UK billion! In the US, one billion is one thousand million (i.e., it has 9 zeros and equals 1,000,000,000 or 109). In the UK, one billion is one million million (i.e., it has 12 zeros and equals 1,000,000,000,000 or 1012)!

Now that I've defined a billion, it might be useful to try to describe it in terms we should all be able to understand: money--or something as useful as it, credit cards (because very few people can even dream of owning a billion dollars)...

* A billion credit cards combined would weigh the same as:

o 1562 hippopotamuses
o 52 blue whales
o 78 brachiosauruses

* A billion credit cards laid end-to-end would reach:

o 2.2 times around the earth
o Down the length of the Amazon River 13 times
o Over 938,000 US football fields
o More than 14 times the length of the Great Wall of China

* A billion credit cards stacked up would be as high as:

o 120 Mt. Everests
o 7,219 Great Pyramids

To complicate matters even further, one trillion is not the same on opposite sides of the pond either! As with the term billion, the UK trillion is inflated by a factor of one thousand over the the US trillion.

The US trillion is one thousand thousand million (i.e., it has 12 zeros and equals 1,000,000,000,000 or 1012) and so is the equivalent of the UK billion. The UK trillion is one million million million (i.e., it has 18 zeros and equals 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 1018)!
 
I like to ask the question this way,

We used to count the National debt in Million.
Then we counted it in Billions.
We now count it in Trillions.
You know what we will be counting in next?

Most people dont know it, but it is Quadrillions.
To my understanding we are over 10 percent of the way there.

I tell people about what happened in Germany in the 20's. And they look at me with blank looks on their face. I then tell them that what happened to Germany is what is happening to the US. Usually at that time they are saying either I am crazy, that this is the United States, and we are immune to any bad thing happening to us,or they totally cant even comprehend what Im say to them.

I give up. If you can understand what Im trying to tell you, you have probably already bought your gold & silver. If you cant understand it, I guess you never will.
 
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Yah, but how does a thermos know whether you want something kept hot or cold?
 
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