Last week I saw an advertisement which claims that one in
eight of the people who use the tube are victims of identity
theft.
I just sat there and thought that equates to12.5% of the
population,
which must also mean that 87.5% of the population do not
suffer from any form of identify theft.
The interesting difference between saying 1 in 8
and 87.5%
is that one of them sounds alarmingly high number,
while the other sounds like a reasonably low percentage.
Perhaps that’s why I always like to see the raw statistics,
rather than any one else’s interpretation of just what they
might mean.
When it comes to any fiscal or population figures then it
makes a lot of sense to do so.
For even 1% of a population can equate to many thousands of
people, which in turn will equate to many thousands of
individual tragedies.
When it comes to percentage cuts in public finances it is not a
question of looking at the figures,
but just what this means to individuals,
and the social impact it will have upon the population as a
whole.
There is a very good argument that all social services should
be protected.
On the other hand there is a conservative argument that
people should not be encouraged to stay within a benefits
reliant culture,
but do something in order to help themselves.
The problem with this comes with a belief that this can be
solved with a totally unrealistic and totally unatonable
‘enterprise culture’.
There is an old socialist saying:
‘ From each according to his abilities
From each according to his means.’
I would agree with the conservatives that we do need to get
away from a benefit reliant culture,
but that must mean setting up more self help projects,
while also establishing more workers & consumer
co-operatives.
Perhaps it is time to look at the figures again,
and see just what will work of the benefit of all.
Talk of cutting public expenditure by 25% may sound very
draconian,
but cutting military expenditure be 100% would be most
welcome indeed.
It might also be worth while if we could all start to think of
public expenditure in terms of encouraging social cooperatives.
If cuts are on the way, then we are going to really need to
money in to those projects which would benefits us all,
rather than just keep paying out money to the individual.
Failure to do so will mean a lot more poverty stricken
individuals that will need some sort of fiscal help.
It’s not the percentage figures which matter,
but just what those figures mean within the real world.