Mark Twain is credited with coining the phrase “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.
For his part, Twain cited one other guy for the authorship, although people who make it their life’s work to inquire into such things say Twain was wrong on that count. The phrase, in various wordings, is attributable to several different people.
What is not so tough to pinpoint is Twain’s intent to observe that often statistics can be used to misrepresent the situation.
For example, beware when percentages are invoked. You no doubt have witnessed an oft-used claim in advertising that a company is “the fastest growing in the nation.”
If said company had two customers and added a third, it would be growing at a 50-percent rate. Meanwhile, a company with 10 million customers could add 4 million and be “growing” at a slower rate of 40 percent.
The tiny, three-customer company can be said to be growing faster, but is that really significant?
Statistics of other sorts can be similarly tortured to provide propagandized messages.
But why bother? These days, it’s become standard operating procedure to forget massaging statistics and instead merely fudge them entirely.
Just today Joe Biden rushed out to get another COVID-19 shot and took the occasion to throw math back a few centuries.
In this example, Clueless Joe was asked what percentage of the population needed to submit to the jab before we could get “back to normal.”
Biden put that figure at 97 or 98 percent, neatly ignoring THE SCIENCE.
That SCIENCE has some experts saying the COVID-19 virus is now an ingrained part of the human experience that we will need to deal with forever and a day.
Others, including notable flip-flopper Anthony Fauci, opined in May of this year that if 70 percent of the adult population had one shot (notably shots come in pairs and now are said to require boosters) we should be immune from surges of virus cases by July 4. That deadline was nearly three months back. How’s that prediction holding up?
And what of real-world experience? It just happens that Norway, with a relatively modest 67-percent vaccination rate among its populace, has lifted all restrictions and returned to normal way of life.
Whose statistics do you believe, Clueless Joe’s, Flip-Flop Fauci’s or Norway’s?
Speaking of statistics, two members of the Federal Reserve Board, the people who have their hands on the economic thermostat by controlling interest rates, have resigned after their prolific stock trading success had been outed publicly. That trading was addressed in this space last week.
One member cited health issues for his resignation. Another admitted the spotlight being shone on him and others was a distraction. Apologies were absent.
Could these guys have done as well statistically without their inside information? Again, you make the call.
And, finally, an online petition to the government calling for more handout money is nearing 3 million signatures. All these people want is $2,000 a month per adult and $1,000 a month per child indefinitely.
What amazes me is that it’s taken this long to approach 3 million when the promise is free money.
Obviously, a federal government on the brink of a shutdown due to debt doesn’t have enough money to pay those ridiculous handouts without taxing the populace into oblivion – not just the rich but anyone stupid enough to go to work on a regular basis and earn taxable income.
This is the ultimate in lies, damned lies and statistics. Explain to me how, if everyone decided to stay home and suck at the public teat, this nation could be sustained.
I’m waiting.
Sam Ross Jr's site 