Figures Lie and Liars Figure
Dear editor:
There is an old saying in the financial world, “Figures lie and liars figure.” This explains the art of taking bad financial news of a corporation and turning the ‘truth’ around to make reports look good. It is the slight of hand used by magicians to distract you from the bad news by finding an insignificant item to make failure look like success. It is a method used quite often and is meant to convince investors and the money market that management is doing a credible job and we should continue to give them our support. After all, look at what they are doing for us.
Sound familiar? Of course. It is a tactic used every day by politicians, from local to national ones. Only when used in politics, it is called ‘spin.’ Congressman or Senator took their family on a vacation to a foreign land at the expense of the government or a lobbying firm? Call it a fact-finding mission. Failed badly to convince a foreign head of government of your position on an important world matter? Tell the news people that “we had a good heart to heart discussion and both agreed that we need to work on our common problems.” Commonly used spins that are only the tip of the iceberg. But today I heard the best and most sickening one of all.
There was a news report from an “unidentified source” in the government, who wasn’t authorized to talk on the matter (aren’t they all?) who pointed out that American deaths in Iraq for the month of July, thanks to the president’s troop surge, were down from the previous month by 29%. This meant that there were 30,000 more troops on the ground and fewer deaths. Wonderful news? Not really. As a famous radio commentator always said, “Here is the rest of the story.”
July 2007 was the deadliest month of July in the almost five years of the war. The actual increase from July 2006 to July 2007 was over 67%. For 2004 and 2005 the increase in each year versus 2007 was actually 33%. And comparing 2003, the year of our “Mission Accomplished,” the increase for 2007 was 50%. As a matter of fact, for the first seven months of 2006 as compared to the first seven months of this year, the increase in American fatalities is 63%. Hardly wonderful news.
Is the purpose of these statistics meant to just make Washington reports look bad? Of course not. The purpose is for America to see the truth without the leaked “unidentified source” spin and to show how the administration’s “figures lie and liars figure.”
There is an old saying in the financial world, “Figures lie and liars figure.” This explains the art of taking bad financial news of a corporation and turning the ‘truth’ around to make reports look good. It is the slight of hand used by magicians to distract you from the bad news by finding an insignificant item to make failure look like success. It is a method used quite often and is meant to convince investors and the money market that management is doing a credible job and we should continue to give them our support. After all, look at what they are doing for us.
Sound familiar? Of course. It is a tactic used every day by politicians, from local to national ones. Only when used in politics, it is called ‘spin.’ Congressman or Senator took their family on a vacation to a foreign land at the expense of the government or a lobbying firm? Call it a fact-finding mission. Failed badly to convince a foreign head of government of your position on an important world matter? Tell the news people that “we had a good heart to heart discussion and both agreed that we need to work on our common problems.” Commonly used spins that are only the tip of the iceberg. But today I heard the best and most sickening one of all.
There was a news report from an “unidentified source” in the government, who wasn’t authorized to talk on the matter (aren’t they all?) who pointed out that American deaths in Iraq for the month of July, thanks to the president’s troop surge, were down from the previous month by 29%. This meant that there were 30,000 more troops on the ground and fewer deaths. Wonderful news? Not really. As a famous radio commentator always said, “Here is the rest of the story.”
July 2007 was the deadliest month of July in the almost five years of the war. The actual increase from July 2006 to July 2007 was over 67%. For 2004 and 2005 the increase in each year versus 2007 was actually 33%. And comparing 2003, the year of our “Mission Accomplished,” the increase for 2007 was 50%. As a matter of fact, for the first seven months of 2006 as compared to the first seven months of this year, the increase in American fatalities is 63%. Hardly wonderful news.
Is the purpose of these statistics meant to just make Washington reports look bad? Of course not. The purpose is for America to see the truth without the leaked “unidentified source” spin and to show how the administration’s “figures lie and liars figure.”
posted by Sam Schoolsky | 7:50 AM
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