Just got this in my email this morning and thought it was worth repeating:

The next time you hear a politician use the words "billion" casually,think
about whether you want that politician 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 perspective in one of its
releases:

A billion seconds ago, it was 1959.
A billion minutes ago, Jesus was alive.
A billion hours ago, our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate
Washington spends it.

The Democrats are complaining on how long the war is taking but consider
this:

It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch
Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation.

It took less time to find Saddam's sons in Iraq than it took Hillary
Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to
destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Teddy Kennedy to call the
police after his Oldsmobile sunk at Chappaquiddick.

It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in
Florida!!!!!!

 

Don't mean to get too picky here, but a billion seconds is just over 31.709 years. Sorry.

 

Ok, I get it, this really isn't about defining the word "billion", it's just taking more jabs at Democrats. By the way, we need to define "taking Iraq". It seems to me we're still sending troops, money, and taking casualties. It still sounds kinda dangerous for a country we supposedly "took"!

 

You really are splitting hairs!! 44 years is 1.4 billion seconds (approximately). The really scary part is the 8 hours and twenty minutes!!

 

I hate to say it, but the reason why a billion is used casually these days is because of the size of the budget. With a budget of 2 trillion, one billion is only 1/2000 of the total, so relative to the budget, it's quite small. Think about it, do you know right down to the penny where all of that $20 bill you took out of the ATM last Friday went? And if you can't figure out where a few pennies or dimes went, do you think the government can figure out where a few billion went? Also, it's also easier to be casual about money when it belongs to someone else.

 

Hi, Camo4Stealth

The reason the billion seconds is off is that the first part of this quote has been around a long, long time. Apparently, since 1990 or so, judging by your calculation.

For some, it's old news; for others, timeless truth. Take your choice.

 

I didn't see anything in your billion list about how many billions it took to take Iraq or billions it will take to get back out!

 

A billion here; a billion there. Pretty soon you are talking about a lot of money! (Paraphrased-not an exact quote)

 

"Several"

 

BTW, a billion seconds is ACTUALLY just under 35 years, I do not feel like dividing 1,000,000,000 by 288517500 (seconds per year)

 

Number of seconds in a year 31,536,000

60*60 = 3600 seconds in an hour

24 * 3600 = 86400 seconds in a day

365 * 86400 = 31,536,00 seconds in a year

1,000,000,000 / 31,536,000 = 31.709791983764586504312531709792 years

525600 minutes in a year

1,000,000,000 / 525600 = 1902.5875 repeating for years that a billion minutes represent.

What can I say, I'm a geek.

The 8 hours 20 minutes is only about half what the government actually spends today (about a $1 trillion budget). Think 4 hours and 10 minutes to spend 1 billion dollars right now ($2 trillion budget).

Iraq has cost about $87B so far.

 

So, just a drop in the bucket, then?? LOL

 

A geek would have remembered leap year..

 

 

Howdy, I took in leap year, I did my math with a year being equal to 364.25 days, which is the ACTUALK length of one year Gotcha on that on buddy.....