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Looks like Washington Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli won’t be mayor of Digitopolis any time soon. The rare affliction that prevents Post employees from telling the difference between “million,” “billion,” and “trillion” apparently still plagues the paper, with the latest evidence coming from a correction in yesterday’s issue (emphasis added):
A Sept. 9 A-section article about the presidential candidates’ efforts to shore up support among critical interest groups misstated the dollar total of defense and non-defense cuts contained in a deal negotiated by the White House and House Republicans last summer to rein in the national debt. The cuts totaled $100 billion, not $100 million.
This isn’t even the first time dyscalculia has struck the paper’s coverage of defense cuts. Previously, a column by national security correspondent Walter Pincus was tripped up on whether budget sequestration would cut $1 billion or $1 trillion from defense.