Putting It In Perspective

The other day my sister made a comment to me; “I wonder how people survived 100 years ago when they didn’t have cell phones?” Ummmmm… I don’t think it was 100 years ago. I’m pretty sure it was just like 20 years ago and even then if you were lucky enough to have one it was like the size of your head.

The little girl that I nanny for (and I’m not sure why I don’t have any stories about them on here yet so stay tuned) told her mom that the baby cried for 3 hours the other day. Well, it was more like 30 minutes but sometimes that can feel like 3 hours when it’s a baby screaming.

Everyone has their own perspective on things, but I can’t help to chuckle at these exaggerations. I’m sure you have heard someone exaggerate a few things in your lifetime, but sometimes children have the funniest perspective on things.

Here's one for you.... When you hear the word BILLION what do you think?

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.

For another perspective, let’s look at New Orleans. It’s amazing what you can learn with some simple division. Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D) asked Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number…What does it mean?

A. Well… if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man woman, and child) you each get < /I> 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.

Hello, Washington DC! Are your calculators broken?
Building Permit Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Social Security Tax
Etc
Etc
Etc

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 and the largest middle class in the world and mom stayed home to raise the kids. What happened? Can you spell politicians? And I still have to press “1” for English.

How’s that for perspective?