The NYT reports that the World Bank is increasing it's spending on food programs to $6 billion next year from $4 billion this year. How much of a strain is this on the wealthy countries that provide most of the money for the World Bank? Few readers probably have any idea. If we just did the calculation based on the populations of the U.S., Europe and Japan, then the cost is less than $8 per person per year. Another helpful comparison is that the new spending figure is equal to less than 2 weeks spending on the Iraq War. Since almost none of the NYT's readers have any idea how much $6 billion is, there is no point in writing in a number like this without any context. It is simply a pointless ritual.
--Dean Baker
