Here's something thought provoking -

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 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?

Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every  man, woman, 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.

Washington, D.C. !!!...........................Are all your calculators broken?

Maybe everyone should just flood their  houses, then we can all be on the "big easy" street for the rest of our lives, and forget about working, and paying taxes and all that useless stuff!

The current cost of playing in the sandbox is enough to send every one of my generation to an ivy league school.

Quote from: werase643 on March 06, 2006, 04:45:28 PM
Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516, 528.

yes, but you'd have to pay for the infrastructure to get to your house, or your job, or to the hospital, or FOR the hospital...you'd only end up with $5.

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

Or you could look at it this way:

602 billion billion billion atoms of carbon weigh about 1 gram. 
1 billion dollars is enough for every person on Earth to get about 16 cents.
1 billion dollars is about $3.33 per US resident.
That's about $10 a day per person you're talking about. 
That's about $300/month.
$300 a month for all the infrastructure necessary for modern life.

Not such a bad deal IMO.  My rent and basic bills are twice that, and I live quite frugally except for the GS. 

It's all a matter of scale.

Edit: 16 cents, not 12.  I was dividing in my head by 8 billion for some reason. 

werase, do you buy cocacola products?

no, why?

Quote from: Egaeus on March 06, 2006, 11:08:29 PM
and I live quite frugally except for the GS. 

Isn't the GS part of frugal living? Do you spend a lot on mods?? 

Quote from: pandy on March 07, 2006, 08:40:07 AM
Isn't the GS part of frugal living? Do you spend a lot on mods?? 

Not so far.  $210 for the MSF class, $1300 for the bike, $800 for gear, $800 for maintenance, tools, repair, and a very few mods.  A total of about 30 miles ridden.  Not going so well on that frugality thing. 

Quote from: Egaeus on March 07, 2006, 09:52:00 AM
Not so far.  $210 for the MSF class, $1300 for the bike, $800 for gear, $800 for maintenance, tools, repair, and a very few mods.  A total of about 30 miles ridden.  Not going so well on that frugality thing. 

It'll feel better when you get up to 30K miles! 

You sir are a jackass and so is anyone that buys into the fact that the resident of New Orleans would directly see one dollar in their pocket. That money would do several things, help the city rebuild its: courts, roadways, remove debris. It would also be used to build levees and rebuild coastal marsh, WHICH is lost due to the oil industrys canals and waterways. The US has enjoyed low gas prices thanks in part to the South and its refinerys, the oil industry crippled New Orleans natural protection, but you got cheap gas. What do you care? Louisiana has been begging for more federal funding for flood protection for years, if we'd of gotten it all of this could of been avoided. It would of been a small price to pay, literally. This money is only for New Orleans, Southwestern Louisiana has a major hurricane hit it also, Rita.

Shame on anyone that trys to minimize what the residents of the affected areas are going through. People have lost their jobs, their homes, all their belongings, and worst  of all, their family members. They need a city that can support its infrastructure so basic things like building permits can be issued to be able to even start rebuilding their lives. Seriously WTF do you think happened down here? Some water washed in for a week or two and now those lazy Southern SOB's want a hand out? Get real.

-ash

Ash, I don't disagree with most of your post, but I do disagree with this:

Quote from: ashman on March 07, 2006, 11:47:14 AM
You sir are a jackass and so is anyone that buys into the fact that the resident of New Orleans would directly see one dollar in their pocket.

This is simply not true.  "Through its disaster management agency FEMA, the federal government issued more than 10,000 debit cards to Hurricane Katrina refugees in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Each card carried a monetary value of $2,000." [snopes.com].  Appearantly it was pretty easy to get the cards, too, even if you weren't a Katrina victim: "All you had to do was call FEMA on the telephone and lie and you could get money. It was just a question of how many people were willing to make false statements." [Gregory Kutz, Governmental Accountability Office investigator].

So while I agree that aid to rebuild New Orleans is certainly necessary, and I understand that no oridinary New Orleans resident is going to get reach off aid, it's not true that they haven't or won't see and direct cash on there pockets, and money has been and will continue to wasted to some extent.

Werase- although you bring up some good points, I think what you missed was that the mistake wasn't necessarily how much money was distributed, but where it went. Rebuilding an entire city is expensive as hell. God knows if it happened in NYC, the money needed to rebuid our city and recoup our lives would be probably be closer to $1,000,000 per resident or something ridiculous like that.
I agree that it seems like a lot of money to be going down there, but when you think about it, it's pretty minimal compared to what whole families would need to rebuild everything they've lost. I don't think anyone is getting rich off that tragedy.

Quote from: aaronstj on March 07, 2006, 12:27:16 PM
Ash, I don't disagree with most of your post, but I do disagree with this:

Quote from: ashman on March 07, 2006, 11:47:14 AM
You sir are a jackass and so is anyone that buys into the fact that the resident of New Orleans would directly see one dollar in their pocket.

This is simply not true.  "Through its disaster management agency FEMA, the federal government issued more than 10,000 debit cards to Hurricane Katrina refugees in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Each card carried a monetary value of $2,000." [snopes.com].  Appearantly it was pretty easy to get the cards, too, even if you weren't a Katrina victim: "All you had to do was call FEMA on the telephone and lie and you could get money. It was just a question of how many people were willing to make false statements." [Gregory Kutz, Governmental Accountability Office investigator].

So while I agree that aid to rebuild New Orleans is certainly necessary, and I understand that no oridinary New Orleans resident is going to get reach off aid, it's not true that they haven't or won't see and direct cash on there pockets, and money has been and will continue to wasted to some extent.

the 250 billion is for rebuilding. PERIOD.  Any FEMA aid is not part of that money and is what any tax paying US citizen would recieve in a similar disaster. If the cards were passed out in Texas to a New Orleans resident then they most likely did deserve it, why else would they be there? Part of that money was intended to help cover the temporary houseing costs, for most it did so. If interstate is shut down and all roads into your area and the local governement wont let people in for over two weeks then yes, I think you deserve it. I'm sure their were some that did unrightfully get some. My sister who was about to move into a downtown apartment the week before the storm never recieved FEMA aid. Her job downtown flooded and she was let go. FEMA consitered her (26 yrs old) a dependent of my parents household since she lived there before, yet she did pay rent. Some got aid that should'nt have, some should and did'nt FEMA is a broken agency.

-ash

nevermind that it was a swamp in the begining, and it will end up a swamp.  here's a idea; lets ask the french for our money back since they sold us crappy land.  f%$k N.O. f%$k texas and all the other carnies, your trailers wern't 500,000 "dream homes" before and when the shaZam! dries out the trailer park will look the same.   new orleans and africa have alot in common, the more money you dump in, the more currupt politicians you find.

Quote from: badkarma506 on March 08, 2006, 12:44:35 AM
nevermind that it was a swamp in the begining, and it will end up a swamp.  here's a idea; lets ask the french for our money back since they sold us crappy land.  f%$k N.O. f%$k texas and all the other carnies, your trailers wern't 500,000 "dream homes" before and when the shaZam! dries out the trailer park will look the same.   new orleans and africa have alot in common, the more money you dump in, the more currupt politicians you find.

you are my hero
i was going to say something similar but you put it pretty dang close

the gov(fema) sent new trailers....ya'll didn't like them, they sit in fields not used
dump trucks came to help clean up....ya'll sent them away...no work here for people from other parts of the us
COPART leased 200 acres to store flood cars....ya'll regulated and fined them to the point where they said f%$k you, keep your trash
and sent their drivers home

the rich stay rich..... and the poor leave or stay in a dump
same story different city

also last time i checked...obviously not on the news...the flooding wiped out part of FL/MS/LA/AL
and the news crews won't listen to their crying
i am just sick of hearing about one f%$king city

same as 911 and NEW YORK CITY              ...and wash dc and a field in the middle of nowhere

You dont know anything about whats going on, if you saw it on the news and believe it your an idiot. The trailers are sitting because FEMA wont get them out. When you finally do get one you cant live in it because FEMA wont hook up the power or give you the keys. Who put any value on the worth of homes in these areas? W/O this swamp the country would loose its largest port AND much of its oil production. I've heard nothing about dump trucks, the news has given extensive coverage to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, they really had the worst damnage, I've seen it first hand. Until you can see it and experience it, you'll never understand. I'm sorry ya'll feel that way and speak with such disregaurd. I guess its easy to stand back and take that stance. I hope whereever ya'll live you never have to experience an event like this or heartless reactions from people like yourselves.

-ash

The US government gave New Orleans $5 Mil about 3 or 5 years ago to fix the leves, instead the mayor spent the money of differnt things.  Last year when they asked for more money the Government asked what happend to the money from before and got no reply.  Differnt weather experts have been telling the mayor that the leves need to be strenghend and / or rebuilt for over 10 years.  And in 10 years what have the people of New Orleans done to fix / or repair them?  Not a damned thing.  The government in New Orleans is so currupt that most of the money sent there would be wasted.
FEMA paid  for all housing cost to the people that left New Orleans at least they did in Atlanta.  When a "victim" of Katrina gets a $2000 bank card and buys a TV DVD player with it instead of getting clothes / food do you think they should continue to get help?
And don't say it didn't happen becuase there have been to numerous stories in the news about it.
The way people feel now about the people of New Orleans they brought it upon themselfs.  I personally would not help another "victim"  from New Orleans, and I used to live in La.
It's the same old story. . . . some bad people took advantage of the system and ruined it for everybody.

Quote from: blue05twin on March 08, 2006, 12:15:34 PM
The US government gave New Orleans $5 Mil about 3 or 5 years ago to fix the leves, instead the mayor spent the money of differnt things.  Last year when they asked for more money the Government asked what happend to the money from before and got no reply.  Differnt weather experts have been telling the mayor that the leves need to be strenghend and / or rebuilt for over 10 years.  And in 10 years what have the people of New Orleans done to fix / or repair them?  Not a damned thing.  The government in New Orleans is so currupt that most of the money sent there would be wasted.
FEMA paid  for all housing cost to the people that left New Orleans at least they did in Atlanta.  When a "victim" of Katrina gets a $2000 bank card and buys a TV DVD player with it instead of getting clothes / food do you think they should continue to get help?
And don't say it didn't happen becuase there have been to numerous stories in the news about it.
The way people feel now about the people of New Orleans they brought it upon themselfs.  I personally would not help another "victim"  from New Orleans, and I used to live in La.
It's the same old story. . . . some bad people took advantage of the system and ruined it for everybody.

I hardly think that because these people have a corrupt government and some bad eggs, that they shouldn't be entitled to help. I mean, inevitably whenever you have to get help out to such a large group in such a small time frame, people are going to take advantage of it in the wrong way- just a sad fact of life, of course it's going to happen. I wouldn't think twice about helping another VICTIM. If someone flooded your home and destroyed everything you owned, I'd want to help you out, even if a few people in your neighborhood were looting or stealing. And it's really easy to say "It's the same old story. . . . some bad people took advantage of the system and ruined it for everybody.", but if it was the future of your family at stake,  I'm sure you'd be singing a different tune.

Quote from: blue05twin on March 08, 2006, 12:15:34 PM
The US government gave New Orleans $5 Mil about 3 or 5 years ago to fix the leves, instead the mayor spent the money of differnt things.  Last year when they asked for more money the Government asked what happend to the money from before and got no reply.  Differnt weather experts have been telling the mayor that the leves need to be strenghend and / or rebuilt for over 10 years.  And in 10 years what have the people of New Orleans done to fix / or repair them?  Not a damned thing.  The government in New Orleans is so currupt that most of the money sent there would be wasted.
FEMA paid  for all housing cost to the people that left New Orleans at least they did in Atlanta.  When a "victim" of Katrina gets a $2000 bank card and buys a TV DVD player with it instead of getting clothes / food do you think they should continue to get help?
And don't say it didn't happen becuase there have been to numerous stories in the news about it.
The way people feel now about the people of New Orleans they brought it upon themselfs.  I personally would not help another "victim"  from New Orleans, and I used to live in La.
It's the same old story. . . . some bad people took advantage of the system and ruined it for everybody.

First off the Nagan has only been in office 4 years. And for more then 10 years, say the last 50 years people have known the levees have needed to be strengthened and have been pleading to the federal government for assistance. You dont have any idea what your talking about do you? What part of the state did you live in, how long, how long ago at that??? And it goes WELL beyond the Orleans Parish, the levees and flood control systems are parts of ALL of Southeastern Louisiana that played a part in New Orleans flooding. MRGO had alot to do with the flooding for example.  People anywhere would waste FEMA cards as some did. Brought it upon themselves? Right.

-ash

Quote from: ashman on March 08, 2006, 02:35:10 PM

Quote from: blue05twin on March 08, 2006, 12:15:34 PM
The US government gave New Orleans $5 Mil about 3 or 5 years ago to fix the leves, instead the mayor spent the money of differnt things.  Last year when they asked for more money the Government asked what happend to the money from before and got no reply.  Differnt weather experts have been telling the mayor that the leves need to be strenghend and / or rebuilt for over 10 years.  And in 10 years what have the people of New Orleans done to fix / or repair them?  Not a damned thing.  The government in New Orleans is so currupt that most of the money sent there would be wasted.
FEMA paid  for all housing cost to the people that left New Orleans at least they did in Atlanta.  When a "victim" of Katrina gets a $2000 bank card and buys a TV DVD player with it instead of getting clothes / food do you think they should continue to get help?
And don't say it didn't happen becuase there have been to numerous stories in the news about it.
The way people feel now about the people of New Orleans they brought it upon themselfs.  I personally would not help another "victim"  from New Orleans, and I used to live in La.
It's the same old story. . . . some bad people took advantage of the system and ruined it for everybody.

First off the Nagan has only been in office 4 years. And for more then 10 years, say the last 50 years people have known the levees have needed to be strengthened and have been pleading to the federal government for assistance. You dont have any idea what your talking about do you? What part of the state did you live in, how long, how long ago at that??? And it goes WELL beyond the Orleans Parish, the levees and flood control systems are parts of ALL of Southeastern Louisiana that played a part in New Orleans flooding. MRGO had alot to do with the flooding for example.  People anywhere would waste FEMA cards as some did. Brought it upon themselves? Right.

-ash

FURTHERMORE! The levees were never seen as broken, not until the storm did potential defects show themselves. By "BROKEN" do you mean upgrade them to handle a category 5 storm? If so then it would obviously take more then 3-5 million dollars to do that, you make me laugh. You have no idea what your talking about obviously. I'm seeing why the country is taking this stance  more and more. No one knows what they are talking about.

TARD FARM THIS THREAD! Everytime I see another idiotic post I just have to respond in defense.