Gas Prices Drop. Bush Approval Rating Rises

This and Other Conspiracy Theories Abound

The latest Gallup poll indicates that 48% of the American public believes that President Bush has manipulated gas prices to gain approval and influence the upcoming elections. In the last presidential election the Democratic vote was approximately 48%. Logic concludes that Gallup is, in reality, trying to influence the election by reporting the dissatisfaction of stanch Democrats.

Now the dilemma is which theory to believe. Bush-gas? Gallup-Dems? If there is one thing I know for a fact, 58.7% of all statistics are fabricated and 37.6% of anyone presented with these statistics will believe them 12% of the time. However, only 22.3% of the people who read that sentence will understand the point.

Facts are simple; statistics are not; opinion even less so. Belief? Well, belief is a leap of faith. Conspiracy is even a bigger leap of faith. To imagine that one, two, even a cabal of people has the ability to influence the free market is a tremendous leap. Certainly, what a president may say can cause a bump in the market, but the market is bigger than any one man. Even the president of the United States can not redirect a global economy, much less the price of gasoline, even less the results of a poll.

Gold! I heard on the radio this morning that gold is on the rise. I read something different in the Wall Street Journal. I might buy some gold. Maybe I won’t. There is no shortage of brokers that would love to send a prospectus. If someone could influence the price of gold, the brokers themselves would be buying and cleaning up.

The plethora of conspiracies around the Bush administration never ceases to amaze. Let’s see how many we can list: