I agree with the importance of good writing, but I'm curious about the headline. As I read it, the author gives two examples of how poor writing is costly: in

I agree with the importance of good writing, but I'm curious about the headline. As I read it, the author gives two examples of how poor writing is costly: in terms of time spent correcting papers, and a reference to an estimate from the "National Commission on Writing" that "remedying deficiencies" costs as much as "$3.1 billion annually". There is no explanation of how this estimate was calculated, nor does the article explain how big the US economy is, for purposes of comparison.