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What is a Billion?

By Dave Hamill

Real Estate Agent with EXIT Realty Legacy

October 16, 2008 04:43 PM

Last March, a good friend sent me the following information, suggesting (back in March) that many of our politicians use the word "Billion" a bit too casually.

"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 nothing walked 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 these thoughts are 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 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."

These thoughts were pretty sobering last March. These days they don't amount to a pimple on a gnat's rear end. Heck, our "elected representatives" just dragged us kicking and screaming into shelling out EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY of these. But, what the heck, I'm sure those wall street boys and their bankster buddies are all deserving.

These political types are not only sorta loose with words they likely don't understand, especially as they're applied to other people's money (ours), but they've also been pretty free and easy in legislating away the fruits of our blood, sweat & tears. Consider the following:

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 Perm it 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, < B>
Property 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,
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.

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, had the largest middle class in the world, and most households got by famously on a single income.

What ever happened to the old axiom "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

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Comments(12)

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ama hender

Lone Tree, CO

So true, My kids exagerate that way! Politicians shouldn't.

Oct 16, 2008 04:48 PM

Karen Anne Stone

New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX

Fort Worth Real Estate

Dave: I am still trying to figure out what your point is... other than this is a major amount of money. Have you been through the mess that is still the city of New Orleans ? Have you any clue what it will take to rebuild that once-awesome city ? I think it is pretty easy to sit in Prescott, Arizona and make light of the plight of New Orleans.

Now... tell me... if all of Prescott were under fifteen feet of water for months and months... covered with mud and sewage, and now totally soaked with mold, rot and dried up sewage... how much money would it take to rebuild Prescott ? And... what if some Realtor wrote a piece from thousands of miles away... making fun of the plight of your city ? Please... tell us how funny that would be to you and your city-mates. Just be thankful you don't have to contend with what New Orleans has to.

Oct 16, 2008 05:02 PM

Vickie Nagy

Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate - Palm Springs, CA

Vickie Jean the Palm Springs Condo Queen

These definitions of a BILLION really add clarity to the mess we're in with runaway losses resulting in government intervention. Scary stuff!

Oct 16, 2008 05:04 PM

Delete Account

Rancho Bernardo, CA

That one about the billion seconds ago being 1959 really blew my mind. I guess i really never thought very much about it!

Oct 16, 2008 06:52 PM

Bobby Stevens

Windermere Real Estate/Lane County - Eugene, OR

Realtor, Eugene, Oregon

I didn't get the impression that you were dissing New Orleans, Dave, but I do find your breakdown of federal aid for that fair city confusing and misleading.

The historical references are interesting.

Oct 16, 2008 08:03 PM

Maria Morton

Platinum Realty - Kansas City, MO

Kansas City Real Estate 816-560-3758

Dave, the breakdown of what a billion is equivalent to was fun.

Our government's lack of a timely response to the tragedy in New Orleans was horrendously emabarrassing on a global scale. I imagine that the longer they take to do what should have been done at the time the disaster occurred, the more expensive it will be to fix the levies, roads, and rebuild the rest of the infrastructure. I seriously doubt that any individual homeowners will receive adequate financial assistance in rebuilding their homes. The government did not even require the insurance companies to pay the owners what they should have been paid swiftly and willingly without discussion.

The list of taxes we are burdened with is sobering. We all know that we pay too much but to see all of the taxes listed gives clarity to just how inefficient our government has become. Perhaps Thomas Jefferson was correct when he said that every country needed a revolution every 100 years.

Oct 16, 2008 08:25 PM

Michael Setunsky

Woodbridge, VA

Your Commercial Real Estate Link to Northern VA

Dave, putting a billion is perspective shows it is no trivial amount. Thanks.

Oct 16, 2008 11:49 PM

Dave Hamill

EXIT Realty Legacy - Prescott, AZ

Prescott, Arizona Real Estate

Thanks for your input folks -- each and every one. Looks like I may have stirred up a small hornet's nest though.

Let me start with Karen, who does seem to be a bit offended. Karen, please allow me to assure you that there was absolutely zero humor in my mind in putting this post together. I was making no "fun" at all. I see nothing funny about any of this.

Please allow me to reiterate the heart of my point as illustrated by this excerpt from the post: "

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is 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."

My intent was that we (and our legislators) begin to fully appreciate exactly what is meant by the word "Billion".

Yes, what happened to New Orleans and her people was horrible. May I suggest, however, that not every single one of her 484,674 individual people lost their homes. And, yet the equivalent of over a half million dollars was requested for each and every soul in the city.

I would venture to say that not every home in the city was destroyed, and yet over a million dollars per existing home was requested. I'd also guess that a relative few of those homes would appraise for anything close to a million dollars -- even if we did have to replace every single one -- and we did not.

Nevertheless, even if the request for 250 BILLION dollars was justified, right down to the very last penny, I am simply offering the suggestion, that few in America, especially those in Congress who throw that figure (and our money) around with such apparent ease, have a real appreciation of what it actually means, and what it requires of We the People, in terms of our daily sweat, to produce just a single Billion of the dollars they so readily give away. Witness, for example, the most recent case, in which they gave 850 of those Billions, to wealthy investment bankers, who will likely never know the sweat, blisters, and fatigue that accompany the honest day's work most of middle America turns out on a regular basis just to feed and shelter our own families. And they then have the audacity to take by taxation, about half of that and flush it, each and every year. (see the list -- which is by no means comprehensive - of taxes in the post)

My post was a simple call to consciousness for all of us. There was certainly no intent to make light of any of New Orleans' recent trials, or, for that matter any of the trials all Americans currently face as a result of the hurricane of ignorance and corruption that has so recently swept through Washington, DC.

Oct 17, 2008 03:10 AM

Liz Moras Migic

Chilliwack, BC

Chilliwack, British Columbia - Realtor

I love David - so good to reflect and review exactly what those numbers mean and represent!

Oct 18, 2008 07:47 AM

Chuck Willman

Chuck Willman - Alpine, UT

NewHouseUtah.com

Trillion is the new billion. That's the impression I've been getting lately.

Oct 19, 2008 04:38 AM

David Coffman

Exit Realty 1st Choice - Tucson, AZ

Great Post! Perspective is everything.

Jan 21, 2009 03:39 PM

Karen Anne Stone

New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX

Fort Worth Real Estate

It is extremely difficult to develop a true perspective while you are either wearing a blindfold, or you have your eyes closed. Take a trip to New Orleans. Spend a week in Ward Nine. Then try and write another silly post like this.

Jan 21, 2009 04:16 PM