Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Crappy Poll On PBS Site Where Better Should Be Done


Poll
Should the American government continue to bail out struggling corporations?
o Yes; without these corporations, the American economy is done for.
o No. These companies made poor financial choices, and they should suffer the consequences.
o We should bail out the financial institutions, but not the auto industry.
Talk about "begging the question?" When I copied the page, here were the results:
* No. These companies made poor financial choices, and they should suffer the consequences. (76%, 641 Votes)
* Yes; without these corporations, the American economy is done for. (13%, 106 Votes)
* We should bail out the financial institutions, but not the auto industry. (11%, 92 Votes)

Total Voters: 839
I hope I am not the only one who recognizes that there is at least one more option which could have been included: "We should bail-out the blue-collar industries and let the bankers hang." Another possibility: "We should bail-out individuals and let all the corporations go to hell." Here's another: "We should make examples of a couple of industry CEOs, and strip them of their wealth, power and positions, toss 'em into a State Prison for a couple of years for violations of fiduciary duty and due diligence." I'm sure there are more choices. I was just struck by the paucity of the ones given and the way they were loaded. Really poor poll construction, seemingly designed to drive folks with positions not enumeraqted into the "fuck 'em ALL" camp.

No comments: