By Selwyn Duke

If prominent journalists can’t do simple math, how can they do complex political science? Some may thus wonder after MSNBC host Brian Williams and New York Times editor Mara Gay claimed on live television that ex-presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s $500 million in ad buys equates to $1 million per American. In reality, it only amounts to enough to buy a cup of coffee (and not at Starbucks, either).

“Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. The U.S. population is 327 million,” said Williams, quoting a tweet by journalist Mekita Rivas on MSNBC’s The 11th Hour Thursday night. “He could have given each American $1 million and still have money left over, [sic] I feel like a $1 million check would be life-changing for people. Yet he wasted it all on ads and STILL LOST.”

“It’s an incredible way of putting it,” Williams summed up, addressing Gay, whom he was interviewing.

“It’s an incredible way of putting it. It’s true,” Gay responded. “It’s disturbing.”

Incredibly and disturbingly stupid, maybe. In reality, the United States’s current population of approximately 331 million people, divided into $500 million, is about $1.51 per person (not counting illegal aliens).

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