Just yesterday, I posted an entry about misleading statistics, which are especially disturbing when propagated by the mainstream media. Today, I was confronted with another example.
USA Today reported that disgraced Congressman David Wu, who was forced to resign because of charges that he had an unwanted sexual encounter with a teenage daughter of campaign supporter (Wu claims it was consensual), would be entitled to more than $1 million in retirement benefits.
Obviously, the article will inflame the fiscal conservatives in America who already have pitchforks in hand because of public-employee pensions. Only those who read the fine print of the article will discern that the 56-year-old, 13-year congressman’s pension will be only $23,871 a year. This is less than one-seventh of his current salary of $174,000, and while it is certainly a nice pension in an America where pensions are becoming the exception instead of the rule, it is not the princely sum suggested by the $1 million headline.
This sort of exaggeration reminds me of the marketing of the Texas lottery. Although the advertisements proclaim a $1 million prize, the fine print reveals that the winner only receives a fraction of that amount unless they agree to accept annual payments over 20 years. That is the sort of fudging math you expect from marketers, and you might even expect it from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), which is publicizing the Wu pension numbers to further its special interests. But I expect more from USA Today.
Not only did USA Today emphasize the total probable payout instead of the more understandable annual amount, it relied on NTU to provide some additional so-called perspective on the situation:
- “Some perspective: Congressional pensions are two to three times more generous than those offered to private-sector workers who earn the same salary, the NTU says.”
Why would the article’s author, Catalina Camia, rely on NTU for such a subjective assertion? Based on my understanding of pensions, I question the accuracy of the claim, and obviously, NTU is not a disinterested party and is the least likely to provide good perspective.
Come on, Catalina, let’s do better.
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