Department of awful statistics

Apparently, NBC thinks everyone in America is going to work for the Chicago Tribune in 2009.  Liz Wogelmuth catches a headline apparently claiming that the economy is going to shrink more than 200% next year.  That's right, not only will we produce absolutely nothing in 2009, but we'll take an axe to a substantial plurality of the nation's assets.

Comments

Rob Lyman January 8, 2009 1:47 PM

we'll take an axe to a substantial plurality of the nation's assets

Suddenly, my purchase of canned ammunition is looking extraordinarily wise.

Silas Barta January 8, 2009 2:06 PM

"Sorry, China, we can't honor the bonds we sold you. Hey, um, how about instead, you take this statue! ... of some ... woman with a ... torch of some kind! Okay, yeah, sure, we'll credit you the cost of shipment through the panama canal..."

billswift January 8, 2009 2:16 PM

So somebody made a mistake translating the numbers to the screen. Following the link, the actual USA Today headline they typoed was 2.2%.

zic January 8, 2009 2:42 PM

I have this vision of the US accepting millions of new Chinese immigrants in exchange for debt forgiven.

They'll live in all those foreclosed houses in CA and NV; in factories filled with machines imported from China after being imported from the US when US production was shut down over the last 20 years.

And they will cause a major shift in US politics, moving it toward a new direction that will be called libetarian-socialist; providing aid to traded corporations freely, but not to individuals.

thomasblair January 8, 2009 2:47 PM

zic,

And they will cause a major shift in US politics, moving it toward a new direction that will be called libetarian-socialist

What is even remotely libertarian about your little scenario?

Words have meanings, you know. That's why they're useful to we humans. If you don't know the meaning, don't use it. :)

zic January 8, 2009 3:23 PM

From Wikipedia:

"What it means to be a libertarian in a political sense is a contentious issue, especially among libertarians themselves. There is no single theory that can be reliably identified as the libertarian theory, and no single principle or set of principles on which all libertarians would agree."[10]

divesh January 8, 2009 3:34 PM

"but we'll take an axe to a substantial plurality of the nation's assets"

actually, when you shrink 100%, you disappear completely. and i respectfully disagree with the prediction.

Kunal January 8, 2009 3:42 PM

Zic is absolutely right. His wise words remind me of an exchange from Southpark:

Kyle: Libertarian, these Libertarians want to change your Libertarian. They don't want this Libertarian or any of his Libertarians to live here because it's bad for their Libertarian. They use Libertarian to try and force Libertarians to believe their Libertarian. If you let them stay here, they will build Libertarians and Libertarians. They will take all your Libertarians and replace them with their Libertarian. These Libertarians have no good Libertarian to live on Libertarian, so they must come here to Libertarian. Please, let these Libertarians stay where they can grow and prosper without any Libertarians, Libertarians, or Libertarians.

Libertarian: Young Libertarian, your Libertarians are wise and true.

Blackadder January 8, 2009 3:50 PM

Maybe Obama will just employ everyone digging holes, and then forget to pay people to fill them back up again.

jwh January 8, 2009 3:55 PM

"So somebody made a mistake translating the numbers to the screen. Following the link, the actual USA Today headline they typoed was 2.2%."

You're right.....and the incredible quality control skills of the NBC staff couldn't catch the mistake.......which is pretty much par for the course for that network.....

Rob Lyman January 8, 2009 4:51 PM

actually, when you shrink 100%, you disappear completely. and i respectfully disagree with the prediction.

This nation's total wealth exceeds its annual production.

Dan January 8, 2009 5:04 PM

Poo. I like the idea of someone predicting a 200% shrinkage of the country's economy.

Thomas R January 9, 2009 2:19 AM

"that will be called libetarian-socialist"

I think there already is such a thing as "libertarian socialist." It's sort-of like anarcho-socialism. Actually I'm not sure if there's any difference at all, but presumably "libertarian socialism" involves more guns and hookers. (It's not "libertarian" anything if there's no guns or hookers, at least so is my understanding. "g")

As to the original screw-up too funny. I would guess being down "202%" could mean that the GDP is -102% of this year's. So nothing is made and everything made in 2008 is lost plus 2%.

D iversity January 9, 2009 10:31 AM

Routine jounalism. For most jounalists, the answer to two and two is obvious: a story about spouse swapping. Journalists who report business see things differently : the answer is 2 separated from another 2 by an indeterminate number of zeros with a decimal point randomly placed.

hR January 10, 2009 1:32 PM

An old saying about planks and eyes springs to mind. Someone who writes a blog that's as riddled with uncorrected typos as yours probably shouldn't be pretending that somebody else's typo is anything but an innocent mistake.