Skip to main content

Billion American Dollars Seem Highly Insignificant Today -(coin your own acronym)

Dear Members and Constituents,
It's not clear whether Everett Dirksen (who served in the U.S. congress 1933 - 1969) ever uttered the infamous phrase "a billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you're talking real money". It is clear, however, several recent news stories seem to imply a billion dollars is not "real money".
  • The U.S. is contemplating $1.2 Billion in aid to Pakistan which, according to analysts, is unlikely to buy us much (if any) good will from their people
  • The $7.2 Billion broadband stimulus package will not make a meaningful dent in the disparity that exists between urban and rural broadband availability.
  • The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the administration's budget could bring about $9.3 Trillion (12 zeroes) in deficits.
  • Heck, Bernie Madoff, a single individual, was able to defraud investors out of $65 Billion (what's a billion among friends?)

It's intuitive to me that a Billion dollars (nine zeroes) buys elected officials less than it would you or I. The more money you manage, the less control over minutia you have. A housewife in Bangladesh will get the biggest bang for her Taka (worth about a penny and a half). Officials thinking in chunks of 69.7 Billion Taka ($1 Billion), have a harder time avoiding the proverbial Reagan-era $800 toilet seat purchases or letting a few million dollars line the pockets of corrupt local officials here and there. Sure, these are tough times, however, Dirksen died in '69 so apparently, it's been a while since a billion in the government's hands went a long way.

With the Rockies' home opener today, it's comforting to know a billion still gets you a 13 year runway with that organization (only 4.75 if you wanted to fund the Yankees payroll). Luckily, none of us is cursed with having that kind of money to spend (that did not sound right).. and thus it becomes easier to walk away from bad deals. Take Danielle Vitale (donut girl) as an example. She was well within her means when she purchased five dozen donuts to share with us this morning (although carrying them in did pose some challenges -they're heavy!). And if you've been having a hard time picturing these obscenely large amounts of money, perhaps it would help to think of a dozen donuts as the number of zeros that follow the number one in a trillion. Only nine donuts for a billion. I don't know about you but all this talk has made me getting hungry. So, stimulate the economy by purchasing some coffee, tea, hot cocoa or milk and then stimulate your taste buds with a delicious donut.

Have a Good Friday.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy New Year!

  Friends, Happy new year (and, technically, still Friday). As many of you know, my household has a peculiar way of ringing-in the new year. We build effigies representing the old year and burn them at midnight. This year, although we made the tough call of canceling the accompanying annual party, I felt it was important to go ahead with the burning. The theme, of course, was CoVid. My kids and I developed a dozen mutations of the virus and staged them in our backyard. Then, at a quarter ‘till midnight, we proceeded to read the old year’s last will and testament (or, as might be expected for a year like this, an un-will and un-testament). Shortly thereafter they were summarily burned. We then proceeded to stay up way past my bedtime (which in part helps explain the unusual tardiness of my weekly note). In any event a couple of donuts and a day of rest have got me back to my old self. By the way, I’ve posted a public video of the Facebook live stream event on Facebook. Key markers on
Post a Comment
Read more

THE Oasis

Friends, The book  Ready Player One  sent me down memory lane this week. The journey was not triggered by the author’s excessive references to the 1980s, which border on obsessive. Rather, it was the name of the massive virtual reality simulation used by characters in this dystopian future to escape their grim surroundings: The OASIS. You see, that was also the name of my grandfather’s country estate, the setting where a disproportionate share of my treasured childhood memories were created.  La Quinta Oasis was a bucolic old whitewashed house with a massive stone staircase, three foot thick adobe walls and wooden window shutters that, when closed at night, would submerge the residence in pitch darkness. With no running water, electricity, phone or indoor plumbing, the only modern convenience was the battery transistor radio on which my uncles would listen to “Chucho el Roto”, a radio soap opera. The Spanish fighting roosters crowed long before sunrise, making it difficult to fall back
Post a Comment
Read more

Accidental Culinary Innovations

Friends, Have you ever inadvertently fermented spaghetti sauce? Yeah, me neither… until yesterday, that is! Imagine my surprise when the half-full bottle, sitting in the fridge from time immemorial, made a sound akin to opening a beer bottle, instantly filling the glass container with a hazy smoke. As the carbonation dissipated, I grabbed a spoon to conduct the obligatory taste test. How was it? I’m glad you asked! Let’s just say chunky carbonated tomato beer is not my thing (although I must admit that if I had been expecting it, my reaction might have been a little more… composed). Now, if you forgo the fermentation and switch the tomato paste with spicy salsa… that might be the next million dollar idea! Sparkling sriracha anyone? How about Carbonated Cholula?   Bubbly Habanero? Fizzy Jalapeño?? I could go on, but I have a feeling Gassy Guac might not fly off the shelves. Now, if only I could stumble on a way to improve donuts. Carbonated Jelly filling… yeah, maybe not. I think I’ll
Post a Comment
Read more