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Is there a major problem with large number comprehension in America?
There are many instances where I hear someone saying something like, "$500 million is being spent on such and such...or maybe it's $500 Billion..." and carrying on as if the distinction is of minimal consequence. The people listening to this 'factoid' don't seem bothered by the uncertainty either.
Of course, the difference between $500 million, and $500 Billion is enormous. It cost something like $500 million to make the movie, The Avengers. $500 million is a high feature film budget. $500 Billion is a number you won't see many places beyond the US military budget. The entire Walton family that owns Walmart has about $100 billion between them.
I know the examples aren't necessary for those who understand the difference between a million and a billion, but I just wanted to illustrate my point a bit for those who may think that I'm nit-picking. It isn't nit-picking at all. It's pointing out a major intellectual laps, on the part of a large number of people. Not being aware of the vastness of the difference between these numbers means you can't comprehend money at all. You think of millionaires and billionaires as being in the same club. Millionaires drive nice cars and have nice houses. Billionaires control the world. It's an important thing to be aware of, in order to have a rational grasp of the world.
2 Answers
- wayfaroutthereLv 77 years agoFavorite Answer
Well, most Americans don't even understand the statistical phrase "on the order of...", so failing to understand that they are off by an order of magnitude or four doesn't surprise me. I expect this--people don't understand math. You have also hit something else that amuses me--almost all Americans with jobs think of themselves as "middle class". If they are rich enough to be in the bottom of the upper class, they say "I work for my money, rich people have their money work for them." If someone with a job is poor enough to be at the top of the lower class, they say "I'm not on welfare, so I'm not poor." There was a major issue during the 2008 election because Obama proposed a tax hike on "the rich" and set the "rich" bar low enough to include a lot of people who don't consider themselves rich.
When you look at a chart describing either income or wealth, it is surprising even if you do pay attention. First you see what you expected--poor people, people a little richer, and on up the scale. You see that the person in the 98th percentile for income makes about 20 times what someone in the 50th percentile makes. Then you see that people in the top one percent make about six times what the guy who barely made the top two percent make.
Oh, and Avengers cost a little under $250 million.
- ?Lv 77 years ago
A person making $50,000 a year may find anything beyond 500,000 incomprehensible. As long as this person isn't responsible for managing large sums of money as a job, it's o.k.
