The AP spent a lot of time figuring out the total cost of North Carolina's "bathroom bill" - HB2 - for its one year anniversary coverage.
And that total cost is 3.76 BILLION DOLLARS!
Over 12 years.
Of course this is a lot of money. It is, after all 3.76 BILLION DOLLARS!
But you'll need to read very deep into the story to learn that the NC economy is about half a trillion dollars annually. So, over the course of the 12 year AP analysis...
$500,000,000,000 x 12 years = $6 trillion total GDP.
By my calculation, the total impact is 0.06 percent of the GDP.
Six-hundredths of 1 percent.
Of course, this assumes no further economic expansion which would increase North Carolina's GDP over the next 12 years, too.
Still, this number makes the economic impact seem quite small.
Which probably makes the headline seem less powerful when you're trying to sell papers, get clicks, and promote a particular agenda.