Awesome

Have you guys seen this? This is awesome.

This is one of those things that’s just such an abuse of statistics, there should be shelters.

See, it’s a list of things that the rich and the poor do differently that clearly makes the difference between being rich and poor! You can find them all in Thomas C. Corley’s book! And if you read that nifty little bio I just linked, you’ll find that these habits are derived from studying 233 “wealthy” people’s daily habits and 128 people “living in poverty.” Because that is a large enough sample from which to glean data. Hahaha.

How are wealth and poverty being defined? Don’t know! Did Thomas C. Corley take care to include a mix of other demographics, such as where in the country and in what types of communities these people lived  (rural or urban? job availability? social service availability? socio-economic diversity?), whether they had children and how many they had, what levels of education they had received, how old they were? Don’t know! Is it at all possible that these habits are correlated and not causing the wealth and/or poverty of the participants of this study? Don’t know!

Now, to be fair, I didn’t read the book, so maybe he answers these questions in there. But . . . I think not.

And look at these statistics!

1. 70% of wealthy eat less than 300 junk food calories per day. 97% of poor people eat more than 300 junk food calories per day. 23% of wealthy gamble. 52% of poor people gamble.

A) Why are junk food and gambling in the same “item”? I mean, they don’t seem to have anything to do with each other . . . unless you’re just making a moral judgment. “These are two bad, dirty, evil things only stupid, bad people do.”

B) What does “gamble” mean in this context? Does it mean play the lottery? Because, I mean, you’re not likely to win, but it’s also pretty cheap. Does it mean go to casinos? I read one of those Michael Lewis books about Wall Street, and as far as I can tell, “investment banking” = “gambling” and most of the people who do it are pretty wealthy, so . . . we’re not including that, then?

C) How are we defining “junk food”?

D) However we’re defining it, “junk food” is cheaper than healthy food and generally less time-consuming. Which is why people who are lacking in money and time eat it. Duh.

2. 80% of wealthy are focused on accomplishing some single goal. Only 12% of the poor do this.

How . . . do you even define that?

3. 76% of wealthy exercise aerobically four days a week. 23% of poor do this.

It couldn’t possibly be that the wealthy, not having to work two full-time jobs to even maintain a certain level of poverty, and not having to work jobs that are physically as well as mentally exhausting, and not having paid help to do laundry and cook and clean and shop for them, have more time to “exercise aerobically”, could it?

4. 63% of wealthy listen to audio books during commute to work vs. 5% of poor people.

Umm . . . a lot of poor people don’t have cars and commute via public transportation? And a lot of people, poor and not, carpool, and it would be rude to listen to audio books then? Also just because something is a “book” doesn’t mean it’s mentally stimulating or helpful?

6. 63% of wealthy parents make their children read two or more non-fiction books a month vs. 3% of poor.

Wait, seriously? Wealthy parents do this? Wealthy parents, stop doing this. Let your child develop a love of reading and an interest in the world without your forcing it on them. My parents never “made” me read shit; instead they spent a lot of their time going, “You have to stop reading now, we’re in the car and it’s dark,” and “You have to stop reading now, you’re walking up the stairs.”

7. 70% of wealthy parents make their children volunteer 10 hours or more a month vs. 3% of poor.

A) When you volunteer, it’s frequently “the poor” you’re trying to help.

B) That sounds off to me, if only because in wealthier areas, schools are frequently requiring the volunteering, not parents. Are we counting parents “making” their children fulfill the requirements of their school?

C) A lot of children in poor families spend their “free” time working for $ to help support their families. Asswipe.

8. 80% of wealthy make Happy Birthday calls vs. 11% of poor.

The fuck does this even mean? Maybe poor people live closer to their friends, families and loved ones and get to actually see each other instead of making calls on birthdays.

11. 6% of wealthy say what’s on their mind vs. 69% of poor.

What the fuckedy fuck does that mean? How were such statistics gathered? Mind-reading?

12. 79% of wealthy network five hours or more each month vs. 16% of poor.

That’s like saying, “And wealthy people are far more likely to have a secretary or administrative assistant to help with office tasks!” Like, duh. Jobs that pay well have assistants and networking things. Jobs that don’t tend not to.

14. 6% of wealthy watch reality TV vs. 78% of poor.

Bullshit. 6% of wealthy WILL ADMIT to watching reality TV in public.

15. 44% of wealthy wake up three hours before work starts vs. 3% of poor.

Yeah, 44% of wealthy people don’t have to leave the house before the sun comes up. 44% of wealthy people got to come home before midnight. 44% of wealthy people CAN wake up three hours before work starts while still getting six-eight hours of sleep. 97% of poor people would only sleep an hour or two a day if they got up three hours before work started.

16. 74% of wealthy teach good daily success habits to their children vs. 1% of poor.

Well, the wealthy know what the good daily success habits are? If by “success” you mean “wealth”?

17. 84% of wealthy believe good habits create opportunity luck vs. 4% of poor.

18. 76% of wealthy believe bad habits create detrimental luck vs. 9% of poor.

Read that and then remember that people like George W. Bush and Mitt Romney believe that their success was based on their own hard work and diligence and not at all the luck of their birth and the opportunities that resulted. As far as I can tell, wealthy people often believe ERRONEOUSLY that their success is entirely the result of their own hard work and correct habits, and do not credit the role luck had in their success. Poor people have often had the opportunity to see that DESPITE their hard work and best efforts at good habits, they STILL were subject to rotten luck. Also people tend to tell the story of their life in the way that’s the most flattering to them; this statistic is just a result of that.

Honestly, this is such ridiculous, ill-presented, ill-argued bullshit, it made me laugh.