The next time you hear a politician use a billion dollars in a casual manner, think about those nine zeros.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one 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 human walked on the earth.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our goverment is spending our tax dollars.