The Broken Calculator
Posted by Rob Longenecker on December 4th, 2007
This is too true to be very funny. (Author unknown)
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?
A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of
New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you
each 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.
Washington, D.C .. HELLO!!! … Are all your calculators broken??
December 5th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Giving money to a politician, especially a Lousiana politician, is like give a bank robber the key to the front door of the bank and the combination to the safe.
A good example of how our poiliticians are looking out for us is their grand opt-out of the social security ponzi scheme.
SOCIAL SECURITY:
(This is worth reading. It is short and to the point.)
Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years.
Our Senators and Congresswomen do not pay into Social Security
and, of course, they do not collect from it.
You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of
their rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a special
plan for themselves. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan.
In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it.
After all, it is a great plan.
For all practical purposes their plan works like this:
When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die.
Except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments..
For example, Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may
expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (that’s Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand
Dollars), with their wives drawing $275, 000.00 during the last years of their lives.
This is calculated on an average life span for each of those two Dignitaries.
Younger Dignitaries who retire at an early age, will receive much more
during the rest of their lives.
Their cost for this excellent plan is $0.00. NADA..! ZILCH…
This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick
up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come
directly from the General Funds; “OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK”!
From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into,
every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer). We
can expect to get an average of $1,000 per month after retirement.
Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly
benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator Bill Bradley’s benefits!
Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made.
That change would be to: Jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from
under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security
plan with the rest of us . Then sit back…..
And see how fast they would fix it.
If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted
and maybe good changes will evolve.
Effective Jan 1, 2008 there is another change, we past 70 already pay tax on our SS benefits, and are charged Medicare Part B $90.40 ” New for 2008 – Plus $64.50 for the income-related monthly adjustment amount based on your 2006 income tax return.”