Math is hard

There's a common saying that reporters don't go into journalism because they're good at math. While I certainly won't argue with the sentiment of that saying, I think there's something more nefarious going on with the press's innumeracy. To pay any attention to the math would mean finding out the true nature of President Obama's economic mismanagement. It's better for their collective psyche to not question Him rather than to run the risk of seeing how disastrous His administration has been. They might even find out that He has been lying to them for years.

The latest example of the press's happy mathophobia is how it has swallowed whole the administration's reckless talk about an imminent default. Congressman David Schweikert of Arizona tried to help them out

[T]here is no such thing as default unless there is an actual evil attempt from the administration. When you have 18 percent of GDP coming in in cash, less than 2 percent going out in debt coverage—I’m stunned you all fall for it in the press. None of you were math majors, were you?”

I'm not as stunned as the congressman is. After all, imagine how uncomfortable a reporter would feel among his colleagues if he actually managed to give an accurate reporting of the Obama economy. The wailing and the gnashing of the teeth would be deafening, and it wouldn't exactly put the reporter on the fast track for a Pulitzer.