Thursday, July 12, 2012

An Analogy

Apologies to Brian Williams (whom I love), but last night he repeated an oft-sited comment that is literally correct, but very misleading.
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Simply Analogy
Before, we get to that... let's look at the picture to the left..
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Now, suppose the woman died as a result of this "situation".
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Would the NBC News report "Woman Dies, Killed by Ground!"
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Of course not.  While it is LITERALLY correct, that statement would ignore the cause of death, which is the man pushed her.
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Now let's take this simple analogy to the news last night about San Bernardino (and other city's) bankruptcy occurring.
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NBC last night blamed the proximate cause of the bankruptcy on Pension Costs.  Which is just like blaming the ground on killing the woman in the picture (hence the term analogy).
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But the "pusher" in this situation is the banks - which Americans bailed out.  The Banks created a massive housing bubble - and the collapse of the housing market ruined San Bernardino's finances (and Stockton, Mammoth Lakes and Scranton PA).  Now, on that particular cliff in California, Prop 13 lay like a giant log on the edge of the cliff, but it has been there for years.  Nope, itook the banks to push the woman off the edge.