"On Tuesday the Liberals launched a "Cost of Labor Calculator" app on its Facebook page. The calculator asserts it can work out your yearly "cost of living increase with Labor". The calculator is a beautiful piece of propaganda that uses a few tricks to befuddle the user. First, it asks you to put in your monthly expenditure for the seven items. But it then gives you the increase in annual terms. So if you put in that you spend $1,600 a month on rent, the calculator says your yearly increase in cost of living with Labor is a massive $4,599. It is a good marketing trick – it gives the sense that prices have tripled rather than increased by 31% in nearly six years. The other sort of sleight of hand is the use of "Medical" as one item. That could mean the broad category of "Health" or the smaller sub-group of "Medical, dental and hospital services", but in fact it refers to a sub-group of the sub-group and includes only "Medical and hospital services". One possible reason is that since December 2007 total "Health" costs have risen 35.1%, the "Medical, dental and hospital services" sub-category has risen 41.4%, but the specific item of "Medical and hospital services" has risen 45.6%. The figures used in the calculator are accurate, but extremely disingenuous." Read more: theguardian/business/grogonomics/2013/aug/29/liberal-cost-living-calculator-uses-tricks
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 09:46:44 +0000
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