Column: Students puts money, time in perspective

A billion seconds ago you'd have been wearing bell-bottoms. A billion minutes ago you'd have been wearing sandals and hanging out with Jesus. A billion hours ago you'd be grunting about how cool the wheel is.How long would it take to count to one billion? According to Dr. Math from mathforum.org, if you count one number a second without stopping until you reach a billion, it would take you 31 years, 251 days, 7 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds.

I only bring this up because our government just happens to be tossing billions of dollars around everyday. I'm sure you've heard about the $700 billion bailout by now, and you've probably ignored it. But this is our money. I know it's hard to understand, but the government doesn't just print up new money when they need it. They spend yours.

You've probably had enough of this by now, but do you have any idea how much $700 billion is? I don't, and neither does Andy Rooney.

According to Zephyr Teachout of techpresident.com, here are some straight facts about $700 billion:

 It's one-third of the total amount of money received by the federal government in 2007, including social security, income tax, corporate tax, and all other receipts.

 It is $140 billion more than has been spent on the Iraq war since the invasion.

It is $120 billion more than that spent on social security benefits.

 It is almost 3 billion nonrefundable bus fares from Durham to San Francisco, leaving tomorrow.

 It is nine times the amount spent on education in 2007.

 It could pay for 2,000 McDonald's apple pies for every single American.

 It is 35 times the amount spent on all foreign aid in most years.

 It has more zeros than the calculator that comes with my computer allows.

 It is 7,000 times bigger than the Sierra Club's yearly budget.

 According to some estimates, it is three times what it would cost, over 10 years, to reduce oil dependency by 20%.

 It's over twice the amount of all money given to all charitable organizations in the United States in any given year.

 It is more than $100 for every person in the world.

Keep the change. I'd love a hundred bucks, and imagine what it could do for the Ethiopian kids on those TV commercials. If only pennies a day can save a life, help from Ben Franklin could probably put them through college.

Speaking of college, do you know how that $700 billion divides up among taxpayers? It's almost enough to cover a semester's tuition per person living in the United States. Maybe if they spent some more money sending kids to college we wouldn't be in this mess right now.

The government wants over $2,300 a piece from Americans for this rescue plan. That's no chump change. I don't have that lying around, and the way things are going, I don't think I could get a loan for it either.