From our British Libertarian friends: how much IS a Billion?

This from the Libertarian Alliance Blog out of Great Britain: "How Much is a Billion?"

Upon finding out that the government under Gordon Brown was either spending or borrowing a Billion pounds per day, somebody (apparently in the US) helpfully tried to place the figure billion into perspective:

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. 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 Old (middle paleolithic) Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet. (That’s 2,740,000 years approx - I think the writer is wrong but it’s a moot point still - David Davis)

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

There's more; check it out.

Comments

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