This year's political ad spending hits $1 billion. Think of where that $ could go...

By GottaLaff

One. Billion. Dollars. And senators are screaming about how to spend our money? Here's an idea: Not on political campaigns:

In an interview with Media Life, Evan Tracey of TNS Media Intelligence says spending on political advertising will hit $1 billion this year, with two thirds of that going to issue ads.

The forecast for 2010: "Next year spending will spike with the continuation of the healthcare issue and heavier spending by Obama's political opponents, who will be looking to take advantage of his sagging approval ratings to sweep Republicans into office. Still, the recession may result in fewer campaign donations and smaller coffers than politicians have seen in years past."

Think of what that $1 billion could do. Think of the people it could feed, or the health care it could provide.

Now think of what our elected officials have done for (to) us after we donated that billion to them. Have we gotten our money's worth? Rhetorical.

Billionaires who lost billions, 2008: Awww, poor Rupert Murdoch's on the list

By GottaLaff

In Comments on the post about the despicable Fox News bottom-of-the-TV-screen racist New Years message, Eve said:

I hope Rupert was a client of Madoff. A big client.

...to which I responded:

That's the most euphemistically stated expression of distaste for Rupert that I've seen to date. Good one, Evers.

Well guess what? He may not have lost his Big Bucks to Madoff, but he's about 4 billion dollars poorer than he was last year:

[H]ere are some other billionaires who have lost billions this year (courtesy of Forbes and Business Sheet):

• Media mogul Rupert Murdoch lost $4.0 billion. Shares of News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) are 57% lower since the beginning of the year.

Awww. I hope he can still afford $14 million dollar homes and aubergine hair dye. With any luck, he won't be able to afford Sean Hannity's or Billo the Clown's salary.

H/t: Eve

Treasury Provides Support for Another 92 Banks

By GottaLaff

4000000000 +

The Treasury Department says it has provided an additional $4.7 billion to 92 banks as part of the government's $700 billion rescue of the financial system. [...]

The money is being disbursed as part of the government's effort to buy stock in banks, to bolster their balance sheets and spur them to step up lending to fight the worst financial crisis to hit the country in seven decades.

But critics contend that many banks are not using the government funds for the purpose Congress intended.

But the auto workers have to justify their salaries.

1,000,000,000 x 7

By GottaLaff

Letter from today's L.A. Times:

The Times' story refers to a number that transcends the comprehension of even exceptional mortals.

To put it in perspective: If a printer could crank out a $100 bill every second, it could print $1 million in less than three hours.

The same printer working 24 hours a day would have to work more than 220 years to print $700 billion.

More perspective on what "a billion" means:

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

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??

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Perm it Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),
Liquor Tax,
Luxury Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Service charge taxes,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Sales Taxes,
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Excise Tax,
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax,
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Telephone State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle License Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Watercraft Registration Tax,
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.

[Laffy Note: I deleted the last part... it was irrelevant to the intent of the post]

H/t: David G. for the above "billion" segment