NPR's anchors told listeners to Morning Edition that the deficit is "400 billion dollars, that's 400 billion dollars(their emphasis)." Since very few of NPR's listeners have a clear sense of the size of the economy and prior deficits, they cannot attach any real meaning to this statement other than the fact that the anchors (or their news writers) apparently think the deficit is too big. There is nothing wrong with presenting opinions on NPR, but these should be clearly separated from the news segments.
--Dean Baker