What is a Billion?

A Billion

A short but to the point post today:

What is a billion? The US definition is 1,000,000,000 or a thousand million. This is generally the definition which is used by politicians and bankers so when you read that the UK national debt is currently £160 billion, that’s a hundred and sixty thousand million pounds. It makes me wonder why I bother worrying about my overdraft!

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 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 the government is spending it. 

The last point is US focused, but you get the idea – a billion £/$/Euro is a hell of a lot of money!

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