Billion Dollar Politician!

How many zeros in a billion? This was received in one of those emails passed along to so many people that nobody seems to know where it actually originated, or who penned it.

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

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 your brain, 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. It's an interesting number, but what does it really mean?

If you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child), you each get $516,528.

Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787.

Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.

Imagine $700 billion to bail out banks in the US. That's enough to fund complete medical care for every man, woman and child currently alive in the US for 11 years!

Washington, DC and Ottawa ON - Hello! -- You want $50 billion to bail out the auto industry? 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

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 y 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 upon 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

Income Tax

Everything 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.

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

What the hell happened?

Can you spell "politicians"?