Being a statistics major, I learned to ask where the numbers came from. I am learning to look behind the news items to find out what is really going on.
I attend a book group that last night discussed “Aftershock”. While reading that book I remembered some info on a few subdivisions in my region. The way they suddenly started selling in the 90’s made sense. During the discussion, I gained info from the discussion of others. They were telling things that they are hearing and seeing.
That brings me to the next point. Just hearing is one thing. Seeing actions is another. One needs to make sure that what one hears matches what one is seeing. One person commented on all of the people that are at the beach this week. I remembered the grocery clerk telling me last week about people buying food to take with them. It is cheaper here than there. I mentioned that and another agreed that people are doing that and not going out to eat.
One person mentioned that smoking is down. I mentioned that people are buying discount cigarettes online and that may be distorting the numbers, depending upon how it is being counted.
This morning the news is that 16.2% of people in North Carolina are now using food stamps. How high is it really? Is this number low? Could one person in an extended family qualify but the extended family is dependent on them? Is the number high? Is someone getting them that really does not need them?
One of the good pieces of advice that my mother left me with was “one does not know what goes on inside the 4 walls of a house”. That is so true in the South since we installed air conditioning. We used to know a lot more when the windows and doors were open.
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