The New York Times has an accounting problem. This morning the nation’s paper of record reports that the “World’s 8 richest have as much wealth as bottom half.” The stat is jaw dropping, eye popping, and dead wrong.

The New York Times relies on numbers provided by the group Oxfam to make the claim that wealth’s become increasingly concentrated. Just eight magnates have a net worth, they argue, of the world’s 3.6 billion poor.