The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" casually think about whether you do, or don't, want that politician spending your tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but an advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure in perspective for us all 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.
