Why Can’t Liberals Do Arithmetic?

Who can forget the wonderful moment on MSNBC when Brian Williams and a guest from the New York Times Editorial Board assured us that Michael Bloomberg’s $500 million campaign spending worked out to $1 million for each one of the 327 million people in the United States?

That was mind-numbingly stupid, but Bernie Sanders’ press secretary has equaled it, curiously with another 500 million mistake:

There are not 500 million Americans, let alone 500 million who go bankrupt each year, let alone 500 million who go bankrupt on account of medical expenses. It is hard to understand where Ms. Gray got her 500 million figure. The actual number of personal bankruptcies in the U.S., from any and all causes, is around 750,000 annually, so she was off by a factor of about 667 times.

What is concerning is that these liberals don’t just make math errors, they apparently have no idea of basic information like how many people live in the United States, and no common sense guide as to whether everyone in the country just went bankrupt on account of medical debts, or whether Michael Bloomberg could have spent an amount equal to 17 times the entire U.S. GDP, which is what it would take to give each American $1 million, on his presidential campaign. The thought of these people actually wielding executive power is frightening.

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