Wednesday, June 15, 2011



More maths denial

Yesterday Bill English denied the fundamentals of mathematics, when he claimed that the average wage did not increase when those at the top got richer and the poor got sacked. You'd think he would have found a better way to answer this tricky question overnight, but no; he was at it again today:

Hon Trevor Mallard: Does he understand that real average wages go up when high-income earners get massive tax cuts—$1,000 a week, in his case—and low-income workers lose their jobs?

Hon BILL ENGLISH: No, I do not understand that, because it is not true.

On the one hand, I'm not really surprised; English used to work for Treasury, and they're not exactly connected with reality. Or maybe its simply that for every mathematician who thinks that, English can provide another one to give us a counterview...