During the debate, Mitt made a big error in basic arithmetic.
MR. ROMNEY: ...First of all, the Department of Energy has said the tax break for oil companies is $2.8 billion a year. And it’s actually an accounting treatment, as you know, that’s been in place for a hundred years. Now --
PRESIDENT OBAMA: It’s time to end it.
MR. ROMNEY: And -- and in one year, you provided $90 billion in breaks to the green energy world. Now, I like green energy as well, but that’s about 50 years’ worth of what oil and gas receives...
This is not rocket science. $90 billion divided by $2.8 billion is about 32, not about 50. If you want to do it in your head, 2.8 is close to 3 so, 90/3 is roughly 30. Using Mitt's own numbers the subsidy for green energy was about 30 years of that for oil, not 50. Is Mitt so stupid that he can't do simple division, or does he think we (and the press) are so stupid that we won't check his sums?