Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Who would have thought?

Page A2 of today's paper - "Most Kiwis feeling financially shaken by crisis - survey":
Three in five female New Zealanders and just over half of Kiwi men say the global financial crisis has made them feel financially stressed but most don't plan to change the way they spend or invest, a survey by a financial industry lobby group has found.

[...] Only 8 per cent of those questioned said they were better off since the financial crisis with lower taxes and interest rates, and 41 per cent said they were in the same position.

A further 38 per cent said they felt slightly worse off than a year ago and 12 per cent said they were significantly worse off.

[...] The survey found 23 per cent were still saving nothing from their income while appetite for credit remains high.

Of the 81 per cent holding a credit card, 19 per cent admitted they sometimes pay interest while 26 per cent said they usually end up paying interest on their credit card debt.

Yawn. Perhaps 'Tamsyn Parker' is, like Alan Smithee, a default name. In this case, it's just when a staff reporter has cut and pasted from a survey press release.

Anyway, just to see if you were reading properly:

Three in five female New Zealanders and just over half of Kiwi men say the global financial crisis has made them feel financially stressed but most don't plan to change the way they spend or invest, a survey by a financial industry lobby group has found.

[...] Two-thirds of female respondents and 55 per cent of male respondents to the survey said they were feeling financially stressed.
Three in five, two thirds... same thing, right?

Meanwhile, tagged on at the very end of the article:
Dr Fahy said New Zealand's ageing population meant the current superannuation entitlement age would become unsustainable and the rising cost of superannuation and healthcare meant people should no longer rely on taxes paid during their lifetime to fund superannuation or free healthcare.
Don't worry, status quo. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who made it that far.

1 comment:

  1. I feel a lot better about ignoring the torrent of meaningless statistics that the herald throws at us day in, day out, when it's clear that they can't do maths.

    ReplyDelete