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Can NPR Reporters Say "Trillion Dollars" Like Normal People?
They seem to always have a need to emphasize the "tr" in some peculiar way. Perhaps they have difficulty with big numbers. The latest problem stems from a discussion of handling the cost of President Obama's health care reform proposal over the next decade.
Since NPR has a problem pronouncing the word "trillion," maybe it should just say "half of one percent of GDP." This would likely be more meaningful to listeners and would perhaps be easier for NPR reporters to say.
--Dean Baker
COMMENTS (6)
Dean,
U.S. GDP is $14 trillion according to BEA. So half of one percent of GDP would be like $70 billion, not $1 trillion. $1 trillion is something like 7% of GDP. -Tim
Posted by: T Roeper | June 26, 2009 9:31 AM
Tim,
You're assuming the $1T is all paid in one year, which is decidedly *not* the plan.
So, 0.5% of GDP is ~$70B/yr, I believe.
Posted by: JB | June 26, 2009 10:14 AM
The $1 trillion figure is a 10-year figure. By the end of the 10 year period, GDP will be $23 trillion, so $1 trillion is equal to about 0.5 percent of GDP over this period.
Posted by: Dean Baker | June 26, 2009 11:06 AM
Umm, aren't you off by an order of magnitude? 1 out of 23 is closer to 5% than 0.5%, I'm pretty sure. I would have rounded to 4% myself.
Posted by: Melissa | June 30, 2009 6:05 AM
Umm, never mind - I just got that you meant 23 trillion per year, not 23 trillion over the entire 10 year period. Whew, it really is hard to conceive of just how big the economy is! Please keep trying to give us (and more importantly, reporters) a sense of proportion on these numbers!
Posted by: Melissa | June 30, 2009 6:08 AM
i like
Posted by: Tiffany Bracelets | September 22, 2009 7:56 AM