The news media suffers from hyper-inflation. We can see it in the headlines.
Here’s a recent one: China Will Invest $1 Trillion Globally; How Much Will U.S. Get? But when we read the article, we are told this:
According to author Orville Schell—who has lived in China off and on for more than 40 years—China will invest more than $1 trillion globally over the next decade. That begs the question: Will the U.S. get its share?
I see. A decade. Dividing $1 trillion by ten years, we get $100 billion a year. If the U.S. economy keeps plugging along with no growth, that will be $166 trillion.
The financial media are now addicted to these nutty headlines. The headline writers are told by their editors to multiply everything by ten to one.
China invested $5 billion in the U.S. economy last year—far less than the $51 billion that the U.S. invested directly in China. It currently owns about $28 billion worth of American assets—in companies and real estate, according to the Rhodium Group. And that number is expected to grow.
I see. $28 billion. Total. Compared to what? We read on Wikipedia.
As of the first quarter of 2010, domestic financial assets totaled $131 trillion and domestic financial liabilities $106 trillion. Tangible assets in 2008 (such as real estate and equipment) for selected sectors totaled an additional $56.3 trillion.
Until you read the article to see if the ten-to-one con job is being used, ignore all headlines with big dollars listed. This is especially true of reports on cuts in federal spending.
Our elected officials do the same thing: "Save $1 trillion over 10 years".
Liers gonna lie, statists gonna state.