A billion

I copied this from an email forward.  I don't know whether it's completely true, but I heard numerous times that the amount of money the government was spending on disaster relief would be better spent just giving a check to each family that was in the area instead of on beauracracy and construction.  Huge centralized government projects, bailouts and buyouts of mega-corporations, unending warfare...I don't see how this can sustain itself.  

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 som 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 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 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.