The Washington Post had a decent article about the budget for the National Institutes of Health is being cut. The article briefly recounts the trend in NiH funding over the last decade and points out that the 2008 appropriation is $28.9 billion.

It would have been far more informative to readers if the article had pointed out that NIH appropriation is equal to approximately 1.0 percent of federal spending or $97 per person.

–Dean Baker

Dean Baker is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. Read more about Dean.