Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Be careful with statistics, for they are often used dishonestly and can even sneak up on you.

For example, this graph tells us that the richer half of the U.S. pays 96.54% of our country's income tax. But how can I interpret the political implications of this information without knowing how much of the country's income is also represented by that half of the population?