On numbers. BIG numbers and perspective.

It is amusing - in that disquietly unsettling way - to read the kind of invective the the "new uber right" of the US uses in its opposition to "new" government policies.

There are few, a small number, expressing concern at the impact some of these changes are having, will have, on the US economy.

The BIG number I want to draw attention to - I don't know the exact value - is the cost of keeping two US Army divisions in Iraq for one year. I am informed (that is all) that the number, the cost is more than the total annual GDP of New Zealand.

That, in global terms is still a (comparatively) small number. But as a matter of personal perspective, it is still a BIG number.