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Asking for 250 million is the equivalent of asking 3000 people to work for nothing for a year. That's not an honest analogy, because there are no 3000 people w
by lutorm 16y ago
Asking for 250 million is the equivalent of asking 3000 people to work for nothing for a year.
That's not an honest analogy, because there are no 3000 people who will have to work for nothing. The only purpose of such a statement would be to frighten people into thinking "OMG I could be one of those people!"
The correct question to ask tax payers is: This will cost 300 million over 10 years. That means each of us will have to pony up 10 cents per year over these 10 years to save us from fiery asteroid death. Do you think that's worth 10c?
- hugh3 16y agoYes, I'm starting to wish that reporters would get into the habit of giving pricetags of government programs on a per-capita basis. People have a tendency to lose a sense of scale when millions and billions and trillions of dollars are involved, but they get it back as soon as comprehensible amounts of money are discussed. Examples: Asteroid hunting mission: $1 per capita. The new supercarrier USS Gerald Ford: $56 per capita. Medicare: $2,000 per capita, per year. 2010 budget deficit: $6000 per capita. And so forth. (Actually those numbers are based on a US population estimate of 250 million people, which is on the low side, but whatever.)