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WTF Headline Of The Day: Typo Adds $14 Billion To Spain's Debt
The situation in Spain is shifting from the sublime (as reflected in PM Rajoy's epic failure during his recent Bloomberg TV interview) to the absolutely ridiculous. As AFP reports, a simple typographical error boosted Spain's 2014 public debt forecast by 10 billion euros ($13.6 billion), the government admitted on Thursday. Four days after announcing the national debt figure to the world, the Economy Ministry issued a correction: "It is an erratum," adding that the person that typed up the report mixed up the last two digits...
A simple typographical error boosted Spain's 2014 public debt forecast by 10 billion euros ($13.6 billion), the government admitted on Thursday.
Four days after announcing the national debt figure to the world, the Economy Ministry issued a correction.
"It is an erratum," an economy ministry spokeswoman said.
...
The error was not due to a problem in mathematical computations, the spokeswoman said. Rather, the person who typed the number just mixed up the last two digits.
The difference may seem minimal, but when dealing with an economy the size of Spain's, which is the fourth biggest in the euro zone, it is equivalent to about 10 billion euros.
...
economists say Spain's debt is rising at a worrying speed as it struggles to emerge from a double-dip recession triggered when a property bubble imploded in 2008.
Spain's public debt soared from 68.5 percent of total economic output in 2011 to 85.9 percent at the end of 2012 and 92.2 percent mid-way through this year.
But of course, when Rajoy says the crisis is over and things are looking up (and PMIs prove it) we should believe that right?
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It was the postwoman from the other post. Fat finger.
i really have just realized i dont know the language or the math....if i put down 10 bill and swithch the last 2 numbers i still come up with 10 bill....and as a side note i am taking the over 10bil for my football inspired bet...
The BLS needs to hire these guys
If you reverse two zero's you get, err ummmm ahhhhh Oh, I get it I don't speak Spanish if I could I would say....¿Si invierto dos cero lo conseguiré? But then Yo no hablo español...Capish?
You can get in a lot of golf for 13.6 billion. Ask me how I know. -Obama-
What is 14 billion Euros one way or the other in Spain?
"the person who typed the number just mixed up the last two digits."
In big-boy world above elementary school level we have a word for that- transposition. That means getting the two numbers in reverse order. "Mixed up" would be putting 2 incorrect numbers in those two decimal places or, more likely, simply not knowing what the hell you're trying to explain.
Oh, who gives a crap anyway. Put whatever number you want there, nobody believes it anyway except those who are forced to believe it. I'm chalking this up to ESL (English as a Second Language). Words have meaning, but not if you don't know what words mean.
" Words have meaning, but not if you don't know what words mean."
"Words have meaning, but not if you know what words mean."
there, fixed it for ya.
:)
¿que?
Dept's cut down no double checking?
Does the Spanish government have any people reviewing numbers given to the public? For a number as important as that one, I would hope that they did. The Spanish government either did not, or more than one person is a fault for this screw-up. Will one lowly typist take the hit for this mistake?
Not too inspirational when those in charge miss such an error. It implies they do not have a firm grasp on data.
'Honey I made $91 today ...oh yeah..it WAS $19...easy mistake..
It's always good to have a lots of manual steps and manual checks in the processes so there are enough work for everybody. Adds to GDP.
Transopsition errors are wholly divisible by 9 ??? If the error was indeed 10Bn then someone is LYING errrrrr sorry, "mis-speaking".
Fuckin idiots. Can't even get their excuse straight. As said, last two digits presumably on €10 billion are both zeros!!!
Am I missing something here?
All the worlds debt are typo errors, I call it arbitrary figures.
Why can't they do a typo like that on GLD?