To Readers, $X Billion Just Means 'a Whole Lot of Money'

http://fair.org/home/to-readers-x-billion-just-means-a-whole-lot-of-money/
Date Written:  2019-03-28
Publisher:  FAIR
Year Published:  2019
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23603

A call for media to put numbers in context, e.g., food stamps cost of $70 billion a year is just 0.4 percent of the budget.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Polls consistently show that the public hugely overestimates the share of the budget that goes to items like SNAP (food stamps), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and foreign aid. People will typically give answers in the range of 20 to 30 percent of the budget for these categories of spending. In reality, the shares are 1.5 percent for SNAP, 0.4 percent for TANF and 0.4 percent for foreign aid.

I would argue that this matters, since the public's willingness to support a program depends in part on how much they think we are spending on it. This is for two reasons; the first is simply that people are only willing to pay a limited amount in taxes to help the poor here and abroad. If they already think they are spending a lot for this purpose, they will be reluctant to spend more.