Yes, 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 lo

Yes, 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.)