Lousiana Senator Landrieu wants $250 Billion to rebuild New Orleans

[MellowOne]

What is a Billion?

Here's some thought provoking information -

The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a casual manner, think about whether you want them spending your tax dollar.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but an 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.

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 and this is what it means.

If you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you get $516, 528.

Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes owners in New Orleans, you get $1, 329,787!

Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington, D.C. !!!...........................Are all your calculators broken????

Maybe everyone should just flood their houses, then we can all be on the "big easy" street for the rest of our lives, and forget about working, and paying taxes and all that useless stuff!

[xiamiam]

1. she needs to get a loan from cheney..nt

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. !

:evilgrin:

[RB TexLa]

2. might be some infrastructure and environmental clean up in there too

among much more stuff.

[Ravenseye]

24. 20 Billion for the Levee's alone

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/20/AR2005112001225.html

"On its own, rebuilding the levees in New Orleans to the level state and local leaders want is expected to cost $20 billion or more."

So if we gave everyone half a million dollars, how many of them do you think would immediatley fork over 50 grand back to the levee project?

What about the half million other projects or things that need to be done jointly that we can't even think of? Like....Just pulling this out of my butt here....they probably need all new mailboxes. For a whole city. How many is that? A thousand? How much do those things cost? Say you get em done on the cheap, I bet they need to spend at least a million alone on just new postal mail drops....

It adds up.

[Selatius]

3. Bush would laugh her ass out of the Oval Office upon hearing this

If I were the president, I'd suffer sticker shock at the very least.

[jaysunb]

5. But, but....

she votes w/ the repukes every time. Doesn't that count for ANYTHING ?

Yo Mary, " you better ask sombody " why not start with Tom Daschel. :evilfrown:

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. So NO shouldn't be rebuilt

because of the way their senator votes?

Is that what you are saying?

[jaysunb]

14. no

I'm saying she should remember the people she's owes her office to. BLACK NEW ORLEANS VOTERS. She's disrespected them at every turn to appease Bushco.

My friend lady and her family are survivors of Katrina. I'm their biggest cheerleader for rebuilding their community----THE RIGHT WAY !
But I'll never miss an opportunity to flame Miss Mary.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Just A Day At The Office For The Carlisle Group

If NOLA is to be rebuilt to withstand future storms, this price tag...pro-rated over the decades it will take to complete is money well spent and an insignificant amount when compared to the benefits to the region.

This isn't just rebuilding a few levy walls...it's restoring wetlands and a massive reconstruction/construction project that not only would create lots of local jobs, but also ensure future stability and growth.

I've like the state's idea of taxing the companies that use the state's ports...and the oil companies who have made billions in sweetheart deals over the decades...to pick up most of the tab.

Hell...how long does it take us to burn a billion in Iraq?

[BOSSHOG]

8. ONE WEEK!

[yankeeinlouisiana]

6. So, my family and I get $2,066,012!!

:woohoo:

Thanks, Mary!!

(I think I've seen this before and I do not believe it's accurate.)

[DUHandle]

7. link please

[mattclearing]

11. There's no link. It's some bullshit email making the rounds, I'm sure.

Like that money is going to the families. Give me a fucking break.

[mattclearing]

10. What is that lame email thing in your post?

People who lost everything and are being compensated by the government for its utter negligence which necessitated their exodus should not be made out as charity cases.

That sounds like Barbara Bush talking.

[BOSSHOG]

12. Let a hurricane

shutdown the Mississippi River for a few months and 250 billion will seem like pocket change.

You are having fun with numbers but do you have the Senator's specific proposal. Does she actually plan to give each homeowner 1.3 billion or are you just making fast with the facts? Its strange that the people who have remained in New Orleans are working their asses off on a daily basis and paying lots of taxes. But, please go ahead, flood your house; to about 10 feet, especially in a location where the federal government says you don't need flood insurance and near a levy built by the corps of engineers which fails.

[Brewman_Jax]

13. "What's a billion" e-mail--debunked

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/trivia/billions.asp and a calculator.

[Maiden England]

15. I wouldn't call that snopes article debunking

it proved that the original email was pretty close in its parallels.

[Brewman_Jax]

16. What's wrong with it?

lines a, b, c, and d are false, e is unsubstantiated. How is that not debunked?

[pacalo]

19. The debunked info was in regard to where the money would go.

The money would not go to New Orleans exclusively; it would go to the entire Gulf Coast that was affected by hurricane damage.

[pacalo]

17. This e-mail is currently being forwarded by the Repugs...

I received one of these the other day & this is my response:

In actuality, the $250 billion was requested for the entire Gulf Coast.

Plus, according to snopes.com:

In any case, the arithmetic is a little bit off. Assuming the population and home figures provided to be correct, dividing $250 billion equally among all New Orleans residents would mean:

-- Each person would receive $515,810.

-- The money/home ratio would be $1,328,014.

-- A family of four would take in an aggregate total of $2,063,240.

By March 31, this administration will have spent $251 billion in "rebuilding" what it has destroyed in Iraq because of Bush's lies. Just google "Bush budget cuts" to see how many Americans' lives will be negatively affected to pay for a war that shouldn't have happened.

I didn't receive a reply.

[LSK]

18. here is some perspective - reply with the FACTS

[pacalo]

20. I'm wondering why you chose to post this as fact.

Did you get it from a Repug via e-mail forward? Did you then do any research to get the facts?

You are helping to spread misleading information for the vicious, heartless, soul-less Repugs by posting this as though it were factual information.

[maxsolomon]

21. its better than pouring it down a sewer in Babylon.

i don't think it will take that much money to rebuild the city. maybe all the devastated regions.

[Ravenseye]

23. Typical Rubbish

And what, pray tell, would happen to New Orleans if you were to give everyone half a million dollars in cash? Do you honestly think that everyone would put that money aside and only spend it on rebuilding? How would you pay for the public works? The infrastructure, and oh...the levees?

They estimate that 20 billion alone, at a minimum, will be required to rebuild the levee's correctly. Would you just HOPE that some of those people would all chip in say 50 grand each so that the levees would have a chance of being rebuilt correctly? how bout the roads? The electical infrastructure? The sewers? The environmental cleanup of toxic substances?

When you look at the vast amount of basic infrastucture that needs to be rebuilt, combined with the cleanup and new levee's to prevent the same thing from happening again, the figures make sense. To say "Are all your calculators broken" is just ignorant.

[Swamp Rat]

25. This thread is insulting to we New Orleanians!

Why don't you just join the repukes and piss on our fresh bones while you're at it! :puke:

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. I agree

This is pretty stinky.