January 23, 2004

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

You've heard of the tragedy of the commons? Well, consider this the tragedies of common sense. John Stossel reports on ten all-too-common beliefs and how wrong they are. A summary follows below.

1. Myth No. 10 — Getting Cold Can Give You a Cold

   The cold is caused by a virus, not by temperature. And people get more colds in the winter, only because then we spend more time indoors passing the virus back and forth because we're closer to each other. Being cold has nothing to do with it.

2. Myth No. 9 — We Have Less Free Time Than We Used To

   We have more free time now, say the experts, because we're working less, marrying later, having fewer children, and retiring earlier.

   If we're so stressed for free time, it's hard to explain how 36 million people can find time to golf, and 65 million go camping, and hundreds of millions go to the beach, the movies, and sports events.

3. Myth No. 8 — American Families Need Two Incomes

   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," Moore said.

4. Myth No. 7 — Money Can Buy Happiness

   Money magazine columnist Jean Chatsky polled 1,500 people for her book You Don't Have to Be Rich and found that more money makes people significantly happier only if their family income's below $30,000, but by $50,000, money makes no difference.

5. Myth No. 6 — Republicans Shrink the Government

   But for more than 75 years, no Republican administration has cut the size of government. Since George W. Bush became president, government spending has risen nearly 25 percent...

   And the pork keeps pouring out. Even the Peanut Festival in Dothan, Ala., got $200,000. Republican congressman Terry Everett got them the money. He wouldn't talk to us about it. But the locals said they like getting your money. "I think it's a waste of money, but if they're going to waste money, I guess it's better to waste it here than anywhere else," one man told me.

6. Myth No. 5 — The Rich Don't Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes

   But let's remember the facts: the top 1 percent of Americans — those who earn more than $300,000 a year — pay 34 percent, more than a third of all income taxes, and the top 5 percent, those making over $125,000, pay more than half.

7. Myth No. 4 — Chemicals Are Killing Us

   The U.S. Agency for International Development defends its approach saying its programs are as effective as DDT. Yet, it fights malaria with drugs that the government's own Web site admits fail up to 80 percent of the time. USAID acknowledges DDT is safe as currently used, but won't pay for it.

8. Myth No. 3 — Guns are Bad

   Many people are horrified at the idea of concealed carry laws, and predict mayhem if all states adopt these laws.

   But surprise, 36 states already have concealed carry laws, and not one reported an upsurge in gun crime.

9. Myth No. 2 — We're Drowning in Garbage

   Jeremy O'Brien of the Solid Waste Association of North America said some of his group's members are actually looking for waste.

   Some communities put parks and golf courses on top of trash sites.

   O'Brien said, "In the United States, there's plenty of land to properly dispose of our solid waste for hundreds and even thousands of years."

10. Myth No. 1 - There is no Myth No. 1

    Sorry, but ABC staffers apparently have great difficulty counting backwards from ten. Myth number two was the last one the article provided. Whoops.