How many zeros in a billion???

[L0oniX]

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
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Gift 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)
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales 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.

What the heck happened????

[Earth_First]

1. B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

:shrug:

[Subdivisions]

2. All I can think of to say is HOLY SHIT! n/t

[applegrove]

3. This seems like a wingnut post. They are the ones that hate taxes.

Why post it on the DU?

[L0oniX]

5. Why bitch about it? Got nothing better to do?

[wtmusic]

15. Because it's bullshit, that's why.

About half of these "taxes" aren't even taxes. Dog license tax? Nonsense (there's a dog license fee).

This is supposed to remind us how we all got along just fine by pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We were all self-made men and women, yep. :eyes:

[applegrove]

16. Not wanting to pay any taxes is why the education system and the health care system in the USA

are tanking. Why spread a right wing meme?

[L0oniX]

19. You obviously are not a home owner.

[wtmusic]

23. I am, and I agree.

So much for that theory.

[L0oniX]

29. So you like to pay an unfare share of the cost burden of public schools?

What do you have against taxing the rich for a change?
:crazy:

[applegrove]

34. The person didn't say they were against taxing the rich. But I bet the rich

would say they pay and unfair share of public school taxes. You are getting your right wing memes mixed up.

[L0oniX]

48. I think the bastard banksters and CEO's who are getting millions in bonuses...

are not very concerned with what they pay in property taxes that go for schools.

[wtmusic]

51. I think they are entitled to every penny of their multimillion dollar bonuses

if they are taxed at a 70% tax rate. That's good for everybody.

[L0oniX]

54. From tarp funds? Wow ...are you a CEO by any chance?

[wtmusic]

71. TARP was a mistake to begin with

but that's another discussion. When they hand CEOs $$$ with no strings attached WTF do they expect?

[applegrove]

59. I wouldn't tax them at 70%. A clear 40% is good enough for me.

[JHB]

79. If the top marginal rate is 70%, then their overall rate will be more like 40%

I think we need to start calling a high marginal rate the "gravy tax".

It ain't the meat and potatos that get taxed at that rate, it's the pure gravy on top of it.

[applegrove]

58. Any GOPer hates paying any tax. That is what this whole mess is about...rich people in the GOP not

wanting to pay taxes.

[wtmusic]

35. I'm all for taxing the rich. I'm not rich and I'm all for paying more taxes.

I'm tired of hearing about my state being broke and my kids' public education sucking and it being nigh well impossible to pay for health insurance and infrastructure crumbling around me.

The US still has one of the lowest income tax rates of any developed country in the world. For rich AND poor.

I would pay more just so that my kids would learn how to spell "unfair" correctly. :D

[L0oniX]

44. I would pay more taxes for a public health care system.

I hate that my taxes go for the 700 billion a year in defense spending and the damned banksters.

[applegrove]

31. Do you want to sink the whole country in a bathtub like Grover does?

[L0oniX]

37. ?

[wtmusic]

40. Grover Norquist quote:

"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

[L0oniX]

43. I am for fair taxation. It's not fair right now. We are getting fucked while the military and...

banksters are ripping us off.

[wtmusic]

49. In the seventies the top income tax bracket was 70 percent.

Now it's a little more than half that.

So I agree that income tax should be more progressive. But it's not about eliminating the cigarette tax, the gas tax, or the "watercraft registration tax", ferchrissakes. Most of these are fees which pay for essential services. The "small government" meme is rightwing nonsense that got us in the mess we're in.

It's going to take commitment, and money, to get us out.

[L0oniX]

53. I have no problem paying those small taxes and I'd have no problem paying taxes to get SPHC.

We do have a lot of things we get taxed for though and I think that's some of what the piece is bringing out.

[wtmusic]

63. We pay very, very little in taxes.

"Taxes stifle innovation" is a meme which wingnuts are deeply fond of. Yet those 70% bracket days were ones of amazing technical and social achievement. Executive salaries were a fraction of what they are now. Hell, there's a lot less incentive to stick it to your shareholders if you're not going to be able to keep most of it.

[Statistical]

60. Money is money.

Why not eliminate the whole host of petty nickle and dime taxes (which are all horrible regressive btw) and replace it with higher more progressive income tax.

All those taxes that "pay essential services" was just a scam to move burden of taxation from rich to the middle class and poor.

In my perfect world there would be no taxes except income tax, real estate tax, and inheritance tax.

[wtmusic]

75. I agree, but it will take some time to get there.

From a political standpoint, asking middle-income wage earners to foot the bill for a "watercraft registration tax" is not going to get anyone elected.

Like the camel-in-tent parable, once artificially-low (aka deficit-expanding) taxes are in the door, it's very hard to get them out.

[applegrove]

64. But you posted GOP anti tax propaganda.

[L0oniX]

69. I don't pay attention to what their putting out as propaganda.

I still hate my "tax" money going for the military and banksters. ...and since you seem to only want to insult and attack a fellow (registered) Dem ...you are welcomed to stay in my ignore dungeon.

[applegrove]

74. I'm just trying to get you to understand how dangerous your post was.

California education system is tanking right now because registered dems voted for low taxes. Someone sold them a bill of goods. Don't want to loose one dem to that GOP meme. Including you.

[wtmusic]

10. Yeah life was wonderful 100 years ago if you were a robber baron

Ech I hate this crap.

[Orrex]

12. Then as now.

[applegrove]

20. Exactly. Back to the 1800s is where the neocons want all of america to go.

Are we stupid? Should we just let the anti tax meme spread around the DU uncontested?

[SidDithers]

80. Yup, the "I have to press 1 for English" is a dead giveaway...nt

Sid

[HeresyLives]

4. 100 years ago it was 1910

and the British Empire was alive and well and covered much of the earth.

The US had poverty, and debt.

'The United States has had public debt since its inception. Debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation led to the first yearly reported value of $75,463,476.52 on January 1, 1791. Over the following 45 years, the debt grew, briefly contracted to zero on January 8, 1835 under President Andrew Jackson but then quickly grew into the millions again.<5>

The first dramatic growth spurt of the debt occurred because of the Civil War. The debt was just $65 million in 1860, but passed $1 billion in 1863 and had reached $2.7 billion following the war. The debt slowly fluctuated for the rest of the century, finally growing steadily in the 1910s and early 1920s to roughly $22 billion as the country paid for involvement in World War I.<5>'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt#History

And the world has always had politicians.

[tkmorris]

6. This

[L0oniX]

11. +1

[HeresyLives]

27. There were wars before then,

but certainly they've boosted the debt

[Orrex]

7. Wimmin-folk didn't have the right to vote 100 years ago

And non-white folk barely had the right to exist.

[wtmusic]

25. Back then they raised the kids and everyone spoke English.

Brings a tear to my German-American eye. :cry:

[HeresyLives]

30. Heh heh

Ahh the wonderful 'Golden Age'.

[RoyGBiv]

8. What is the point of this?

I can think of a number of things that didn't exist a hundred years ago either, many of which are funded by these taxes and have made this country far more civilized and prosperous than it was then.

[FLyellowdog]

9. I've tried to squash that gnat a BILLION times! nt

[L0oniX]

13. LOL

[FLyellowdog]

21. Damn! There he is again!!!!!!

[The Gunslinger]

14. I got a email like this from a teabagger.

[L0oniX]

18. That's right. Dems can't bitch about taxes because the tea baggers do ...nice.

:crazy:

[Orrex]

24. Well, typically a Dem won't spread the TeaBaggers' literature for them.

Apparently you have a very helpful nature.

[L0oniX]

33. So if a tea bagger says it then it can't be true or right, 100% of the time?

I'm not sticking up for them but just because they might have brought out this information does not mean I am one of them and it doesn't mean that I have been over there reading their shit, but go ahead and make your accusations since it seems to make you feel like a big shot!

[applegrove]

38. Not wanting to pay taxes implies you don't like robust social programs. At least if you are informed

Many teabaggers and GOP pawns don't know that hating taxes is just a meme put into their heads so the rich don't have to pay taxes.

[L0oniX]

41. Who said I mind paying fair taxes? I also have no problem with taxing the fuck out of the rich...

and cutting back on the 700 billion a year in defense spending.

[applegrove]

56. You posted anti tax propaganda so that is why we are questioning you.

[L0oniX]

57. Anti tax or ...unfair tax? It's all in how you want to read into it I guess.

[applegrove]

66. No it is GOP propaganda.

[Orrex]

39. Considering that a number of the "facts" are just plain false...

You could have done some checking before disseminating their propaganda for them.

I'm not sticking up for them but just because they might have brought out this information does not mean I am one of them

I haven't claimed that you're one of them. I've just pointed out that you're doing them a big favor.

Would you like to see the President's birth certificate while we're at it?

[L0oniX]

42. I didn't know it was their "propaganda" ...I don't read or pay attention to them.

Do you?

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[L0oniX]

62. I guess you didn't get a chance to insult enough people in school ...so here you are ...doing it.

...and while I am at it ...welcome to my ignore dungeon.

[Orrex]

67. Gosh, that was easy.

I hadn't even started on your questionable parentage or your equally questionable bathroom habits.

I had no idea that propagandists were so thin-skinned.

[The Gunslinger]

26. Well I did, more than once and from more than one teabagger.

What should we do about it? Should we cut social spending? Education? Police?

[L0oniX]

72. No. Cut defense spending and stop feeding the banksters.

I am for most socialist programs and want SPHC.

[applegrove]

28. Dems shouldn't bitch about taxes because to be real is costs taxes to pay

for things. Paying no taxes for things is how the GOP wants to sink the American government in the bathtub. They already succeeded in getting Californians to vote against taxes so they are now in crisis. Given the chance the neocons and GOPers would put the whole country in crisis. That is what luring people into hating taxes does.

[L0oniX]

36. Yea we can all pay taxes so they can give it all to the fucking banksters and...

the fucking military. What ever happened to taxing the fucking rich?

[MannyGoldstein]

17. A Billion Seconds Ago Was 1980

I'm pretty sure that's right. It's the only one I checked.

That was when Reagan took office. Must be something to it.

[Fumesucker]

32. The middle of 1978 actually..

((1 000 000 000 / 3600) / 24) / 365 = 31.709792

[Lasher]

77. Yes, that is correct.

This is the stuff of rightwing chain emails, so it is a given that 'ahem' inaccuracies will occur. This particular one comes up from time to time, as has been succinctly noted elsewhere in this thread.

A billion seconds: One billion seconds is about 31.7 years, so going back in time a billion seconds would put us in 1978 as you concluded.

A billion minutes: One billion minutes is approximately 1901 years, so traveling back to a time one billion minutes ago would land us in the year A.D. 109. This date is about 77 years too late to encompass the life of Jesus according to traditional accounts.

A billion hours: One billion hours ago represents a time a bit over 114,000 years in the past, an era generally classified as the Lower Paleolithic era, or the "Old Stone Age."

A billion days ago: Some versions of this piece include the line "A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet." A billion days is approximately 2.74 million years; the era defined by that time period is generally estimated to be about when the first species of the genus Homo appeared in Africa, having diverged from the Australopithecines.

A billion dollars ago: If the U.S. federal government were spending a billion dollars every 8 hours and 20 minutes, its total yearly expenditure would be a little more than $1 trillion. In the last few years, the budgets approved by Congress have been about double that amount, or $2 trillion per year.

Snopes article here

[Fumesucker]

22. A billion dollars will keep one thousand troops in Afghanistan for a year..

I bet the writer of this piece is down with that though..

[L0oniX]

50. Only a billion out of the 700 billion a year in defense spending?

[Fumesucker]

52. Only one thousand troops..

We have many more than that in Afghanistan and about an equal number of "contractors" which may well be costing more per man.

And besides, you were the one talking about a billion dollars...

[Fumesucker]

45. A and B are both incorrect..

A billion seconds ago it was 1978, not 1959

A billion minutes ago it was CE 100 (AD 100) and Jesus was not alive..

[TexasObserver]

47. A billion times I've gotten that email from right wing relatives.

It's opposed to government spending and filled with tea bagger memes.

[Fumesucker]

55. DUzy..

:rofl:

[TexasObserver]

78. I wish I was exaggerating!

[SemiCharmedQuark]

65. It's also anti-immigrant. "OMGZ, I have to press 1 for english!!!!"

[Historic NY]

61. I got a problem with C & D....don't they believe

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

http://www.dailysquib.co.uk/?c=120&a=1236

[SemiCharmedQuark]

68. Oh I hate that the wommin' folk work outside the home too!

[Orrex]

70. Does your man know that you're using his computer?

And I certainly hope that you're not wearing shoes.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

73. I'm allowed to use the computer because the socliasts destroyed America with Bill Clinton's penis

But I assure you, I'd rather go back to the good ol' days of the first part of the twentieth century when my citizen grandparents were deported to Mexico under the repatriation program. (But you didn't have to press no got dang 1 on the telephone!)

[cliffordu]

76. Of course roads, sewers, electrical grids and public buildings

aren't mentioned in that shitty little screed...