Proves the point that thanks to the internet you can literally think of the title first, then write the article. So here's the fuzzy-math behind his argument:

Proves the point that thanks to the internet you can literally think of the title first, then write the article. So here's the fuzzy-math behind his argument: "The granite-countertop craze got rolling in the late 1990s, so even using Reis’ much lower figures, we’ve spent $12 billion. There’s a pretty good argument to be made we spent $15 billion. And it might be we spent $60 billion." So he guestimates based on loosely researched studies with a range of $12b to $60b in TOTAL spend on countertops accross 20 years. Then compares that figure to the $6b the USA spent on the gulf war, tossing out the other $54b we spent, but other nations remunerated. Let me try one: "Drinking Coffee Craze: US Spends More on Coffee than on Education!" So we spend roughly $18b a year on coffee, so let's go look back from the "late 90s". With that logic we've spent over $100b dollars on Coffee alone, and we only have $63b in FY 2010 discretionary appropriations earmarked for education so . . . Reminds me of that old "73% of statistics are made up" line. grumble. http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html