"Political Math The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a casual manner, think about whether you want the "politicians" 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 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 it.