It doesn�t mean anything to 99.9 percent of NYT readers to say that the fixing the alternative minimum tax is projected to cost the government $200 billion in 2017. Virtually none of the NYT�s readers has any idea how big this sum is relative to the projected size of the economy (0.9 percent of GDP), the federal budget (4.7 percent of projected revenue), or their pocketbook ($520 per person, in $2006 dollars). It is not hard to put budget numbers in a context that would make them meaningful to most readers. The Congressional Budget Office actually presents most important budget numbers as a share of GDP, so reporters don�t even have to get their calculators out for that one. Btw, for my money the most interesting single item in the new projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is that real corporate profits will be 11 percent less in 2017 than they were in 2006. If this proves true, beware of crashing stock markets (also CBO will have again hugely overstated capital gains tax revenue, just as it did before the 2000-2002 crash).
--Dean Baker
