A Matter of Perspective

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The Virtuosi: The Law and Large Numbers

The US budget, deficit and the ludicrous “Youcut” program (which has been rightly lambasted almost everywhere in the science blogohedron)

I just want to point out again, claiming that cutting NPR funding makes a dent in the US budget is similar to claiming you’ve moved closer to Orlando (while in LA) by crossing the room

…

In my undergraduate physics lab, the instructor had a mantra: “A number without context is meaningless”. Now, he originally meant the statement to be a lesson on how important it is to quote errors on your measurements, but I think I can adapt it to apply to giving out numbers like 7 billion without a sense of scale.

(I think the motivation for “cutting NPR” has less to do with budget than ideology, and NPR doesn’t actually get any direct appropriations from the government, but it’s still a nice example of scale)

2 thoughts on “A Matter of Perspective”

  1. From the site cite, Turns out the US Budget is really large. In 2010 it weighed in at $3.55 trillion.

    Benjamin “Bullshit” Bernanke personally added $2.3 trillion in Federal debt ($1.7 trillion QE1 plus $0.6 trillion QE2; with QE3 coming). This clown car of criminal incompetence all by himself has added 65% of the Official Federal buget, out of vacuum. “South Park” was presciently eloquent with episode 87 (Season 6, Episode 8) originally aired on 03 July 2002.

    If you think President “Peanut” Carter, stagflation, “Whip Inflation Now,” and the Misery Index were cute… then Benjamin “Bullshit” Bernanke is the Kekko Kamen of financiers. Follow the light.

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