I have always been fascinated with the use of numbers in political arguments. It is possible to state essentially the same fact, but the numbers you use to express it make a world of difference. A recent example of this can be found in the controversy over offshore drilling.
Critics of Senator McCain's proposal to allow offshore drilling argue that it would only save three to four cents a gallon. According to How Stuff Works*, the United States consumes 146 billion gallons of gasoline each year. The critics' argument would sound much different if they said that offshore drilling would only save consumers between $4,380,000,000 and $5,840,000,000 per year.**
*I am having trouble finding an "official" number and open to suggestions.
**There are lots of arguments and counter arguments. At this time I am not trying to take a side, just have some fun with the numbers.
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Comments: 5
They're just doing the land grab and we're too stupid to realize it.l
No cheating by skipping steps.