Whenever I've ventured into a corner saloon (there still are some left) or a sports bar (there are probably too many left), I get the impression the boys bellying up to the bar don't give a flying fig about statistics. Unless maybe they apply to their favorite hitter or waitress. Yet statistics are probably influencing their everyday lives.
Some random examples from last week's USA TODAY. They appear here as a test. A test to help the reader decide just how much of what they do is in some way a consequence of these numbers >>
* 58% of Americans say one or two children is the ideal family size
* 67% of Americans say they are buying more generic brands to save money
* 11% of the $17 billion in unemployment checks this year have been obtained through fraud
* In the last 30 years Americans have gone from eating 3.8 meals & snacks a day to 4.9
* The final bill for our Middle East wars is estimated to eventually reach $4.4 trillion
* Despite the size families, brand of foods, unemployment and warfare, the average paycheck for top executives at our 200 biggest companies in 2010 was $10.8 million annually -- a 23% gain over 2009
How to make some bottom-line sense out of these variegated statistics...? I dunno know. Maybe this. Creeping socialism is not really over-taking swelling capitalism anytime soon. Which should make the well-padded gang at the elite 19th holes feel good -- though concerned -- inside their gated communities.
I gave up reading statistical reports years ago...and I survived very nicely, thank you.
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