Monday, April 21, 2008

perspective

Jared got this info in an email. With all the billions (and trillions!) of dollars that get thrown around in political talk right now, I thought you might find this interesting. Pretty crazy how much a billion really is.

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 were
living in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth.

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), 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.

By the way, I'm not voicing an opinion on whether New Orleans should or shouldn't get $250 billion, and obviously this is not how it would be used, but it is pretty crazy to see how that breaks down for the population.

7 comments:

  1. $250 BILLION? Wow.

    What I don't understand is the urge to rebuild the parts of the city that sit below sea level. It's gonna flood. People will be killed, again. Homes will be lost, again. It makes me shake my head.

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  2. I'm with Sue. Interesting email.

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  3. My hubby is totally outraged that they want to rebuild. We visited there in 2000 and it was such a literally and morally dirty city, it's not hard to wonder about Sodom and Gomorrah.
    Plus, it is below sea level and it will flood again. I totally agree.

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  4. my brother just came back from New Orleans yesterday and said it was interesting to see.

    Thought provoking email.

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  5. fascinating! so good to put "Billion" into context.

    Love you!

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  6. Interesting. That sure is a lot of money... it's insane how quickly it can be spent by our government!

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  7. Very very interesting. And though I know you weren't voicing your opininion on the rebuild, it looks like others have. I agree with them, its an INSANE way to waste money that will surely be swept away again? I do NOT understand this request. Insane.

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