Simple Arithmetic

By K. Johnson

I've been in to definitions lately.

I love words, but they can be a little nebulous, a little shifty, their meaning can be so easily, and subtly, changed. It is the user who chooses to alter a word's meaning (usually, for their own benefit) and they never tell the listener.

I hate when I realize a conversation I just had does not mean what I thought it meant, because my definition of "like" was not the same as my conversation partner's. You could insert any word or phrase here-- our politicians do it all the time, so do teenagers.

Numbers, they are different, their definitions pretty much defy manipulation. One is one, if you make one, two, someone, if they can count, will notice, quickly.

Recently, however, I've become conscious of what proves to be a long standing trend (it takes me awhile, sorry) to obscure the definition of numbers. The definition cannot be changed, so, by a little mixing of numerical notations, the definition is obscured.

What does $3.5 trillion mean?

I'm not sure. It's a little confusing-- what is a decimal doing in a number typically represented by threesomes and commas? Decimals usually appear in measurements: meters, centimeter, millimeters and the like. One quarter of an inch, can also be written 0.25 inches. A dot is used when writing monetary amounts, but to signify amounts less than one dollar. It does not signify a fraction or percentage of one dollar. It signifies cents. So again, what does $3.5 trillion mean?

I'm not sure, but here is what I came up with (work with me, I had to do it in steps):

1 = one
10 = ten
100 = one hundred
1000 = one thousand
10,000 = ten thousand
100,000 = one hundred thousand
1,000,000 = one million
100,000,000 = one hundred million
1,000,000,000 = one billion
100,000,000,000 = one hundred billion
1,000,000,000,000 = one trillion

700,000,000,000 = 700 billion = in dollars, the approximate amount of one of the federal bailouts

3,500,000,000,000 = three trillion, five hundred billion = 3.5 trillion = in dollars, the President's proposed budget

I think this is correct, anyone a mathhead? Check it for me.

Oh yes, 100 million, that's a lot of money. But what percentage of three trillion, five hundred billion?

Check me again:

100,000,000/3,500,000,000,000 = .00002857 => .0029% = a little more than one quarter of one percent = the amount President Obama asked his cabinet to cut from the three trillion, five hundred billion dollar budget.
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New problem:

The average income in my town was (prior to the last 9 months) approximately $55,000 per year. That's a federal tax bracket of 15% (2008, married, filing jointly) which would put $8,250 into federal coffers every year.

The 2008 estimated US population was 304,059,724. I'll estimate a quarter of that number for individuals/couples who file taxes: 76,019,931 filers at $8250 each = $627,123,180,750. That's six hundred twenty-seven billion, one hundred twenty-three million, one hundred eighty thousand, seven hundred fifty dollars the IRS will collect each year from private taxpayers.

The federal government is spending more than it is bringing in and the only people they get their money from is us and business. Businesses need to contribute $2,872,876,819,250 (two trillion, eight hundred seventy-two billion, eight hundred seventy-six million, eight hundred nineteen thousand, two hundred fifty dollars) to make the federal budget break even. Hmmm, did someone say offshore tax havens?

Please write your politician and explain to them some simple arithmetic and budgeting.

© 2009, Currently Seeking A Country To Rule and the author.