Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Amazing PC Articles

I just read an article that absolutely amazed me by how poor the analysis of the data and the reporting on it was. The article in fact was true but it amazed me how much political spin or ignorance exists. The article is titled: "Census: California second to New York in black-owned firms". There are so many places that I have a problem with it.

Wouldn't it make sense that the two most populous states would have the most black-owned firms? They make it sound like the other states are just way behind the curve.

Do you think that maybe part of the issue is how many black people live in the state? Amazingly New York, Texas, Georgia, Florida, California and the Chicago area have the highest numbers. Wow, what a surprise. I am guessing that North Dakota probably wouldn't have a high number of black owned businesses, maybe because not as many blacks live there.

Also a black owned business is defined as a business that is owned by at least 51% African American ownership of stock or equity. Does that mean that the other black people who don't own 51% aren't successful. That is a pretty skewed number when you consider that black people are a minority in the U.S. I just find this to be a very political number. Maybe the number should be the number of black shareholders in all companies to better indicate how the economy is affected if that is what the politicians are looking for.

All in all, I think that this article is largely racial politics but it is sad how many people will read this and buy into the idea that California and NY are working harder to be "equal opportunity".

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