How Much Is That?
I've been thinking about some pretty big numbers lately, thanks to our government. I mean, what is a trillion? To put it in perspective, if you had a trillion one dollar bills, and you were to put them end on end, they would go the entire 92 million miles (give or take) to the sun, and even at that, you'd have money to burn when you got there. Bring me back a t-shirt. Here's another one. If you sang "A Trillion Bottles of Beer on the Wall" (something to do on the long drive to the sun) and you could average 10 seconds a verse (that's some pretty fast singing), it would take you over 250,000 years, and that's only if you never stopped, and you never lost your place.
How about a smaller number? The US Government is wanting an additional 100 billion dollars for the war in Iraq. That's one thousand millions. Roughly speaking, that's 300 dollars for every man, woman, and child in the United States, which doesn't sound like that much. But would you be willing to fork out $1,200, right now, for a family of four, to continue fighting in Iraq? Or even just $300 for yourself? Or better, would you allow the government to put it on your credit card with 25% interest? I mean, why not? That's where they're getting their money.
Let's look at it another way. If 100 billion dollars were divided up equally among all fifty states, it would be 2 billion dollars a state. In Missouri, for instance, if that money were then divided up among its roughly 500 school districts, that would be 4 million dollars per district. That's enough money to run many of the smaller districts for the next 20 years. How far would that money go for, say, child care? Health care? AIDS research? Developing country relief? Wouldn't it be nice if our government cared more about any one of these things than a senseless war in some godforsaken desert?
Could all the oil in Iraq ever eventually repay the American tax payer?
How about a smaller number? The US Government is wanting an additional 100 billion dollars for the war in Iraq. That's one thousand millions. Roughly speaking, that's 300 dollars for every man, woman, and child in the United States, which doesn't sound like that much. But would you be willing to fork out $1,200, right now, for a family of four, to continue fighting in Iraq? Or even just $300 for yourself? Or better, would you allow the government to put it on your credit card with 25% interest? I mean, why not? That's where they're getting their money.
Let's look at it another way. If 100 billion dollars were divided up equally among all fifty states, it would be 2 billion dollars a state. In Missouri, for instance, if that money were then divided up among its roughly 500 school districts, that would be 4 million dollars per district. That's enough money to run many of the smaller districts for the next 20 years. How far would that money go for, say, child care? Health care? AIDS research? Developing country relief? Wouldn't it be nice if our government cared more about any one of these things than a senseless war in some godforsaken desert?
Could all the oil in Iraq ever eventually repay the American tax payer?
posted by The Holy Grail Press at 7:48 AM
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