Bank Robberies are Because of the Economy
The USA Today reports that Bank Robberies are going up because of a bad economy:
OK, so what we do is run a headline claiming that the economy is behind bank robberies, but later on, we have the article say “we haven’t drawn any conclusions, but we are looking at it”.
I guess when you can run headlines that say “Murder Rates Up, Lax Gun Control Laws Suspect”, this sort of reporting makes sense. One would assume that there would be detailed statistics that relate foreclosure rates, the unemployment rate, median income, and so on to the number of bank robberies over a period of say 30 years. Graph it out. Create a nice graph like Will does at Willisms.
What you will see though, is that Bank Robberies are committed by individuals. Do the cops interview each criminal and ask them, “How has the economy affected your decision to rob banks for a living? Would you say it is more than your decision to drop out of high school did? More than your decision to use methamphetimine did?, etc.”
I am betting that if the statisticians at the AP dig enough they can find one bank robber in the entire country that did it to pay for his grandmother’s medical bills that her HMO declined to cover or to pay for some new medication that the evil drug companies have priced so expensive that he cannot afford it because his company outsourced his job and he now works at Walmart and cannot get health benefits because he is only part time. Then they can run an article using anecdotal evidence that drug companies, Walmart, and George Bush cause bank robberies.
Try a little harder guys. I am sure you can do it.
Bank robberies are up in cities across the United States this year and, although the reason is unclear, the down economy is a suspect.
“The economy is driving some of this,” says Chris Swecker, chief security officer for Bank of America and former assistant director of the FBI’s criminal division. “We’re even getting some anecdotal stuff from bank robbers.”
Swecker said Bank of America analysts study the interplay between the increase in bank heists and foreclosures, credit defaults and unemployment rates.
“We haven’t drawn any conclusions yet, but we are certainly looking at it,” he said.
OK, so what we do is run a headline claiming that the economy is behind bank robberies, but later on, we have the article say “we haven’t drawn any conclusions, but we are looking at it”.
I guess when you can run headlines that say “Murder Rates Up, Lax Gun Control Laws Suspect”, this sort of reporting makes sense. One would assume that there would be detailed statistics that relate foreclosure rates, the unemployment rate, median income, and so on to the number of bank robberies over a period of say 30 years. Graph it out. Create a nice graph like Will does at Willisms.
What you will see though, is that Bank Robberies are committed by individuals. Do the cops interview each criminal and ask them, “How has the economy affected your decision to rob banks for a living? Would you say it is more than your decision to drop out of high school did? More than your decision to use methamphetimine did?, etc.”
I am betting that if the statisticians at the AP dig enough they can find one bank robber in the entire country that did it to pay for his grandmother’s medical bills that her HMO declined to cover or to pay for some new medication that the evil drug companies have priced so expensive that he cannot afford it because his company outsourced his job and he now works at Walmart and cannot get health benefits because he is only part time. Then they can run an article using anecdotal evidence that drug companies, Walmart, and George Bush cause bank robberies.
Try a little harder guys. I am sure you can do it.
Steve
pcND
Bike Bubba
robert108
Sphagnum