the law of averages

"average figures tell only a very limited story, however, because the inequalities in land distribution that exist in every society mean that some weaker and marginal groups will be subjected to harsher scarcity than the averages reveal. in large areas of the world tens of millions of marginalized peasants already subsist on extraordinarily small, and often fragmented, plots of low quality land. over 70 percent of all rural households in the developing world are either landless or nearly landless." thomas homer-dixon "environment, scarcity, and violence."_____________________________________________________________________tom is on about peasants, cropland scarcity, and subsistence...all subjects of interest to me...and how "average" statistics can hide real suffering...averages are pretty much distortions that can be used by...oh...say economists and government flunkies ( read bureaucrats ) to make things seem less intense or threatening or misappropriated or grossly unfair than they actually are...the dow jones averages can reflect gains or loss on the stock market bu they are an average...not everyone wins...not everyone loses...but the average spreads the gain or loss out over all investors so that you don't see at a glance who got stinking rich and who took a bath...you have to take a deeper look and who has time for that? "oh...good news...the market is up!"..it strikes me as no coincidence that many ( although not all ) of the economic indicators used by the government to assess and publicize "economic health" are averages...the national bureau of economic research releases economic data based on things like "average weekly hours"...what they don't really highlight is that figure is average weekly hours worked in manufacturing...not in service or information jobs...and, usually, not solely by minimum wage workers...so who works how long at wal-mart? government doesn't know or doesn't want you to know because it might be bad news and so much of the system runs on faith..."average weekly jobless claims"...this is a seriously cooked number under the best of circumstances and anybody who works for a living knows it...it does not include those who have flat given up on finding steady work for instance...all this number does is cloud the issue.."average duration of unemployment" is another parboiled number tied directly to the last one and just as distorted and manipulated...so the government can spout averages to bend and twist the data to fit political expedience ( and they will )...i will continue to use resources like shadowstats and a closer examination of what raw data i can find to assemble a more realistic view of what's up...these people lie to protect their jobs and a ramshackle system that has serious issues...take a hard look at what's going on in your family...in your friends and co-workers' families...put aside government and media distortions ( after all they report the "government figures" as some kind of consequentialist gospel ) and see how closely it matches the "economic recovery"...some win...some lose...the winners don't want you to know how much they are winning.