Media, Math, and McCain
April 16, 2008 by
Filed under Bush Powers, Capitol Hill, Clueless, Deserved, Double Standards, Idiot Ideas, Legal Ramblings, Money, Uncategorized
The Barbie “Math is hard!” syndrome hits MSNBC Live:
On MSNBC Live, Mika Brzezinski said that Sen. John McCain “wants to eliminate the federal gas tax — that’s about 20 percent of the cost.” Later, Monica Novotny said McCain is “proposing suspending the federal gas tax for the summer, potentially cutting prices by nearly 20 percent.” In fact, the federal gas tax — 18.4 cents per gallon — comprises only 5.4 percent of the current average cost of regular gasoline.
We’ll lay this out for them. Very. Slowly. In America today, the average price of regular gasoline nationwide is $3.389 per gallon. Twenty percent of $3.389 is 67.8 cents, not 18.4 cents. You can even find that out with a calculator.
I wonder if this kind of math ability makes them fantastic tippers?
