Numbers Lie – Statistics, Politics and the Media, Part 1

Years ago, I worked as marketing director of a major product health of the company. It was a revealing experience. I was surprised to discover how top management is willing to distort information (in other words, lie) to increase sales and profits or an increase in the price of the shares of the company. I was constantly under pressure to deceive the public and decided he had to leave the profession to maintain my integrity.

Marketing professionals are turning riders' that distort the information to pass on their program. Councillors and politicians engaged they have perfected this technique in the art. One of the most powerful forms of distortion used by riders of rotation to quote figures and statistics to support his assertions and conclusions.

Now, the key to success is a distortion of truth to the greatest extent possible. In the case of figures and statistics, it works better to use real numbers and not at other times. The distortion starts with the source of the numbers … If you hire XYZ Order by mail from the university to study for you, you probably can handle almost any desired result by setting up the study so that prejudices data. This is garbage – trash problem has heard so much. Just because the number was calculated with precision, does not mean that what gets measured gets done properly.

Very often the riders turn the numbers look data before its agenda and consider it contrary to its purposes. A good example is the way politicians handle the issue of inflation the U.S. economy in the last five years. We kept telling myself that there was very little inflation Index based on consumer prices and other statistics. However, prices of basic necessities such as fuel, housing and food have continued to increase without a corresponding increase in wages. The net result was that the average consumer is spending more and getting less – something that politicians do not want to attract attention.

Another tactic used by the average rider is in the language used to describe the numbers.

When 95% of climatologists around the world have agreed that the planet is indeed warming and that human activities were partly responsible there are still a handful of "scientific" which held that there was insufficient evidence to know with absolute certainty. politicians would not include data published in scientific journals and was "controversial" if human activity had nothing to do with CO2 levels or changes in the Earth's climate – which led the public to the conclusion that nothing should be done. Our acceptance of this distortion can be so insistent in the coming years.

Another level of bias is when a person is responsible for reporting the figures feel that affect the public in a negative way. An example of this is how political leaders in the United States have alluded to the economy in recent years.

When people think the economy is growing, are more likely to invest and spend – Which in turn tends to stimulate the economy. If they believe the economy is contracting, then it is more likely to sell the investment and reduce costs – which tends to put a damper on growth economic. This makes people who are assigned to a report on the state of the economy being too conservative in its reports on the possibility of a recession. They insisted that we were not in recession, while the dollar sinks in value and the contract of the housing and stock markets – which were fearful of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and making matters worse by scaring consumers. Now that the economy has been the recruitment of a long time the "experts" finally "officially" if we're in a recession.

At this point you begin to understand the ease with which the numbers can lie. Next weeks, we will continue with this and also take a look how honest mistakes in the creation and use of numbers can mislead us. We conclude by examining solutions to this problem.

While waiting you may want to consult one of the 5 min. podcast radio program called 5 minutes for a better future. You can listen online or download to listen later or MP3 player. Right click click here to listen to our website and click the link at the top of the list that says "Podcasts." listen and tune in!

About the Author

Randy Bisenz is the founder of http://www.BrightFuture.us , a non-partisan article hub and online community focused on solutions to worldwide problems.

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