Matthew Yglesias rightly objected to the people who rounded up the $700 billion tab for the financial bailout to “nearly $1 trillion” — a description that is technically true but glosses over a difference of $300 billion.

He didn’t follow up, but it’s worth noting that Thomas Friedman (in one of his trademark fake letters from one foreign leader to another) actually called it “a $1 trillion bailout for our troubled banking system.” No!