Mara gay bloomberg math
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A quick use of a calculator shows that $500 million divided by 327 million people is actually about $1.53 per person. We apologize for the error.”
The New York Times editorial board member fessed up to her error, tweeting Friday morning: “Buying a calculator, brb.”
MSNBC’s Brian Williams plus bad math equaled an embarrassing on-air goof Thursday.
He could have given each American $1 million and still have money left over.
Brian Williams, Mara Gay make absurd math flub about Mike Bloomberg’s wealth
They’re a couple of on-the-airheads!
NBC’s Brian Williams and New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay reported that Mike Bloomberg spent $327 trillion on his doomed presidential bid.
The former New York City mayor, worth an estimated $65 billion, actually blew through about $550 million in three months before dropping out Wednesday, winning only American Samoa.
Williams and Gay cited a since-deleted tweet from freelance journalist Mekita Rivas, who wrote Bloomberg spent $1 million per U.S.
resident.
Rivas later edited her Twitter bio to read, “bad at math.”
But Williams, the serial exaggerator suspended by the network for six months in 2015, presented the claim as fact.
“Somebody tweeted recently that actually with the money he spent he could have given every American a million dollars,” Gay said Thursday evening on Williams’s show.
“When I read it tonight on social media, it kind of all became clear,” Williams concurred.
In her tweet, Rivas wrote: “Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads.
"The U.S. population is 327 million. That’s bad math.
We rate this statement Pants on Fire! It’s disturbing. The U.S. population is 327 million. It does suggest what we’re talking about here: there is too much money in politics.”
Later in the broadcast, Williams said he “misinterpreted” the tweet.
His show released a statement, saying: “Tonight on the air we quoted a tweet that relied on bad math.
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Williams quickly corrected the error on air, and the Twitter account for his TV show issued a correction and apology in a tweet posted hours after the show finished.
"Turns out Mara and I got the same grades at math," Williams said after a commercial break.
Here’s the now-deleted tweet from writer Mekita Rivas that Gay brought up and Williams validated:
“Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads.
That’s enough to buy a pack of gum or a Kit Kat bar at CVS, but it’s not breaking the bank. Yet he wasted it all on ads and STILL LOST.”
Some quick number-punching reveals that $500 million divided by 327 million equates to a rounded-up $1.53 per person, a bit off from $1 million.
Rivas owned up to the flub, writing, “I know, I’m bad at math,” on a Twitter bio.
And so did “The 11th Hour,” whose production staff somehow let the tweet air without double-checking:
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Don't miss a beat.
He could give each American a dollar."
"The tweet is wrong," he said.
Gay also tweeted about the incident, saying she was "buying a calculator, brb."
As for the author of the original tweet, she switched her Twitter account settings to private but wrote in her bio, "I know, I’m bad at math."
Bloomberg did spend in the ballpark of $500 million on ads and other campaign-related finances, according to reports.
The U.S. population is 327 million.
MSNBC anchor Brian Williams aired a tweet during his TV show that said former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who self-funded his since-suspended presidential campaign, spent so much money on ads that he could have instead delivered every American a fortune.
"Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads," the tweet said.
“It’s disturbing.”
It was also wrong.
Get your calculators out, America. I feel like a $1 million check would be life-changing for most people. He could have given each American $1 million and still have money left over.”
The tweet was displayed by MSNBC as Williams and Gay offered commentary — seemingly unaware of the avalanche of corrections on Twitter.
“It’s an incredible way of putting it,” Williams said.
Gay, dubbing Bloomberg a “billionaire with good intentions,” added: “It’s an incredible way of putting it.
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He could have given each American $1 million and still have money left over. And the census estimates that the U.S. population is a little more than 327 million people.But even at roughly $500 million, the billionaire didn’t spend nearly the amount of money he would've needed to give every American $1 million.
"I’m speaking of the tweet we both misinterpreted. I feel like a $1 million check would be life-changing for most people. Yet he wasted it all on ads and STILL LOST."
Williams read from the tweet after it was introduced by Mara Gay, a member of the New York Times editorial board, who said that "somebody tweeted recently that actually, with the money (Bloomberg) spent, he could’ve given every American a million dollars."
"It’s an incredible way of putting it," Williams said after displaying the tweet on screen.
If that sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is.