Thursday, January 8, 2009

Oversimplifying is dangerous...


Our local paper recently ran a front-page story with the headline: Recovery relies on housing. What's wrong with this? Well, in the last few weeks I've seen these headlines... Recovery depends on retail sales. Recovery depends on automobile sales. Recovery reliant on drug sales. Recovery relies on success in Iraq.

See, you can finish the headline with almost any word or words and it will appear to be true. But telling us that the recovery of the nation's economy depends on one single factor is simply not accurate. It's a way of coming close to lying by making things seem simpler than they are.

If you think the economy is simple, watch MSNBC any day and you'll see dozens of "experts" who contradict each other and disagree on any topic, any solution. Maybe no one really knows anything despite their MBAs. If so, telling us this - the American public - would be far more honest than giving us supposed one word solutions. Oversimplification is dangerous.

PS: Munchy the cat, though, says it is simple. The recovery of the U.S. economy is dependent on increased cat food sales - especially of Friskies Party Mix, his favorite treats. Yeow!

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