That's right, the Washington Post continues to follow the fraternity ritual of reporting the proposed appropriation in a five-year farm bill without any context. It tells readers that the bill would cost $288 billion over the next five years.
This is known as a fraternity ritual because it is a completely meaningless gesture. Almost none of the Post's readers has any idea of what $288 billion in spending over five years means. It's a really big number -- none of us will ever see $288 billion. It would also be a really big number, and mean pretty much the same thing to most readers of it were $28.8 billion in spending over five years or $2,880 billion.
The Post could put this number in a context that would convey information to readers. It could tell them that the proposed spending is equal to approximately 1.8 percent of projected spending over the next five years or alternatively that the spending comes to $192 per person per year. But, providing information is not part of their ritual.
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