[jyl]

One problem with the financial and economic literacy of the average American is the inability to assess the relative scale of things. People get worked up about things that are trivial.

The first-time homebuyer tax credit (original plus extension) has cost roughly $20BN ($16BN as of May and the final month was expected to add another couple $BN). Recent reports say about $30MM of credits have been fradulently claimed. Some portion of that will be recovered (maybe not from an inmate, but pretty obvious how to recover an over-credit from someone who is going to pay taxes next year). But assume zero recovery.

That is a 0.15% error rate (15/100ths of 1 percent).

Do many of you achieve less than a 0.15% error rate in the complex things you do?