What is a billion? How about a trillion?

The “water cooler” talk is all about the economy these days. What should I do with my retirement account? Should I buy stocks now? What is this stimulus package the government implemented and how does that affect me? It goes on and on, so, to put a little perspective on the situation, some have circulated the following information on the Internet. I thought you would enjoy it.

“How many zeros in a billion? 
 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 it's 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. 

. 
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 recently asked Congress for
 250 billion dollars 
to rebuild New Orleans.” How does that add up? “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. 

”

While I did not take out my calculator to check on these numbers (any math teachers out there?) the point is simple. It really is a lot more money than any of us can imagine. How can it continue?

Ask the European Union. They just came up with a TRILLION dollars to save the economies of Europe. Cause for a celebration if you follow the stock markets. Funny math again...if you ask me?