Mr. President, Math Don't Lie

Obama has asked his cabinet to trim $100 Million combined from the budget. He thinks that will get the Tea Party crowd off his back.

Marketwatch points out that amounts to 1/36,000 of the money in the budget. To put it in perspective, they say, “if the budget were a yardstick, the administration would be proposing to shorten it by 1/1000 of an inch. That's 25.4 microns, or about half the width of a human hair.”

Let’s look at some other examples. Let’s say you make $36,000 per year. That’s a paycheck of $1500 every two weeks. Your employer proudly announces that you are getting a raise…of $1.00 per year. Are you making reservations at Ruth’s Chris Steak House to celebrate?

How about this – Emmitt Smith holds the all time career rushing record in the NFL with 18,355 yards. Imagine that the record keepers announce they are reducing his total by a foot and a half. Do you think Emmitt will go into a deep depression?

This is fun. Let’s do one more. 36,000 days ago from today was September 30, 1910. How much of an impact would it have on you to talk instead about October 1st of that year?

Mr. President, math don’t lie.