The next time you hear a politician use the words "billion" casually, think about whether you want that politician 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 perspective 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.

-A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate Washington spends it. Scary!