Quote:
Originally Posted by peragro
Yes, I understand the manipulability of statistics, however, it's the same statistics that the country have been using for decades (as pointed out by Mr. Will), they're calculated by anyone who cares to wade through the data. It's not as if this is some kind of "hockey stick" data and analysis that's clearly been rigged and the data is not shared
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I was referring to the way both political parties can "cherry-pick" the same set of data, and/or present it in a way that supports their own agenda. That's why you have one side saying the economy is great, the other side saying it sucks, and both quoting data from the same source to support their argument.
It was like the debate a few years back concerning upper end tax cuts. One side argued that the upper income brackets paid in far more in actual dollar amounts than the bottom 80 or 90 percent combined (true), and therefore was carrying an unfair burden and deserved tax relief. The other side argued that once you factored in tax shelters, the federal tax rate, etc, that as far as a percentage of their income the upper brackets were actually paying less percentage-wise than the bottom 80 to 90 percent (also true), and therefore didn't deserve squat.