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Pseudo Science

Pseudo science There has been a proliferation of books and think tanks putting out biased material which is unscientific and follows no academic standards. For example, in Thomas Sowell's book "Economic Facts and Fallacies," he intersperses actual statistics with things he just makes up. To suggest there is no decline in the middle class, he says that if one defines the middle class as a fixed income range of $35,000 - $50,000 when that is the middle of the bell curve, over time the middle of the bell curve will move to the right as everyone's income increases, leaving the $35,000 - $50,000 group on the declining slope of the bell curve, and thus encompassing fewer people. All correct, except he never says this is actually happening - the graph is entirely made up, not based on any study (p. 140). He later says, with respect to the rise in executive pay, that supply and demand is "probably the quickest short answer" (p. 142). Again, not even an attempt to show this, just a bald assertion in a book elsewhere filled with statistics to give an overall aura of legitimacy.

 

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