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January 28, 2004

Mighty Myths

ABC New's John Stossel had a recent TV program in which he debunked common myths (Can you bunk a myth? - ed.). Some of these public policy questions will probably make you mad because it is something you believe in. If so, just move on. I'm not here to debate them. Go talk to ABC News.:

  1. Getting cold can give you a cold. Nope, coming in contact with a virus or bacteria can cause a cold or the flu, not the temperature.

  2. We have less free time than we used to. Compared to when and free to do what? Since 1965, a researcher has been studying the subject and found "we're working less, marrying later, having fewer children, and retiring earlier." What we do with our free time is watch hours of TV. Stop watching TV and you'll find you have plenty of time to do other things.

  3. American families require two incomes. This one depends on what standard of living you want, but not necessarily need. It's about priorities and what you think is important.

    "Fifty years ago, the average family in the United States had one car. Today the norm is two or three. Houses have more than doubled in square footage, and shoppers just seem to spend as much as they want."

    "Most families don't have to have both parents working. They do this by choice. People have decided they want to maintain a very high income lifestyle on two incomes to have all the things to keep up with the Joneses,"

  4. Money CAN buy happiness. This one may be true if you are making less than $50,00USD. But it seems that over that amount, having more doesn't bring more happiness.

  5. Republicans shrink government and Democrats make it bigger. You've all heard the Republicans say BigGovernment(tm) is not the answer, it's the problem. The truth is, Republicans have doubled the size of government since they took control of Congress. No, this is not as a result of the "war on terrorism." It's the result of the war on your pocket book. Congress has expanded almost every department while at the same time sending home pork barrel projects to their home district. Strict fiscal responsibility? Give me a break.

  6. The rich don't pay their fare share of taxes. According to the IRS (you decide whether to believe them - ed.), "the richest 1 percent of taxpayers already pay 34 percent of all income taxes."

  7. Chemicals are killing us. This is one of those areas where we don't do a cost benefit analysis. On one hand, we fear everything will give us cancer (which it may, in high enough doses). But on the other hand, what is the cost of not using chemicals like DDT? In Africa, the answer is two to three million people a year may die because they can't use DDT to kill the mosquitos that carry disease. While I'm not saying we should flood the world with chemicals, I am saying we need to rationally determine what are the costs and what are the benefits. Nothing, including pure oxygen or pure water is always safe in all doses. Hence, banning all chemicals will not make us "safe." Use chemicals rationally and at the lowest effective dose and the benefits will be greater than the costs.

  8. Guns are bad. Based on this myth, "gun control" laws were passed to do back ground checks, to have waiting periods, and outright bans on certain types of guns and ammunition. The problem is, the Centers for Disease Control could not find any positive relationship between these laws and violent crime. In other words, these laws, which reduce or eliminate freedom of choice, don't make us safer. In fact, the only thing felons fear is an armed citizenry who will use these arms to protect themselves and their families. Let's be clear, laws don't make us safer, the police don't make us safer, and the FBI doesn't make us safer. Gun toting citizens make us safer.

  9. We're drowning in garbage. Perhaps this one needs to be defined better. Some places are drowning in garbage but others are looking to make money from taking your garbage. The problem is economically getting the garbage from where it is produced to where it is wanted.

Aloha!

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