[MD] Zen

[Christoffer Ivarsson]

>> [Platt]
>>  >According to a study by the Swedish Institute of Trade,
>> > the "median household income in Sweden at the end of the 1990s was
>> > equivalent
>> > to $26,800 compared with a median of $39,400 for U.S. households." The
>> > study
>> > concluded: average income in Sweden is less than the average income for
>> > black
>> > Americans which comprise the lowest income group in the U.S.
>>
>> This could to someone who just glance at it seem like really something. 
>> But
>> unfortunately I know the nature of statistic, and this is yet again a 
>> great
>> example of nothingness. First of all, "Black Americans are bunched up
>> together as one homogeny group. As pointed out before, there is a great 
>> deal
>> of difference between Oprah and a black worker in the ghetto.   And 
>> Median:
>>
>> Wiki:
>> "In probability theory and statistics, a median is described as the 
>> number
>> separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability
>> distribution, from the lower half. The median of a finite list of numbers
>> can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to 
>> highest
>> value and picking the middle one. If there is an even number of
>> observations, the median is not unique, so one often takes the mean of 
>> the
>> two middle values.
>>
>> Example: X,Y,Z median= Y Example: W,X,Y,Z median = mean(X, Y) = (X+Y)/2"
>>
>> So you see it doesn't really say anything about this particular issue. 
>> And
>> this is a measure of income, only. This doesn't take into account the
>> expenses.  I mean, since we get h whole lot of more stuff paid for us -
>> Public healthcare, schools, education and social welfare - this isn't 
>> taken
>> into account. Purely economically speaking the US is a stronger economy,
>> that has more of both super-rich people and super-poor people. So, this
>> statistic doesn't really say anything about the Quality of life within 
>> each
>> state. And that is the important thing.

[Platt]
> OK. I hope you will so inform the Swedish Institute of Trade. But you 
> realize
> I hope that all those goodies paid to you come out of your pocket, or 
> forced
> out of someone else's pocket. Your taxes aren't voluntary are they?

Uhm. Yes. The sky is blue.