Category Archives: Dubious statistics

Are We Offloading Critical Thinking to AI Chatbots?

Research, much of it by companies with deep investment in AI, suggests that chatbot interactions alter how users think.

Debate Over Conflicts of Interest at Top Pediatrics Association: What About Corruption in Medicine Generally? And With RFK Jr.’s MAHA Brand?

American medicine is rife with conflicts of interest and soft corruption. Don’t kid yourself that RFK, Jr. and his allies are any better.

Financial Times Study, Finding Blacks Twice as Likely as Whites to Have Mortgage Applications Rejected, Reignites Debate Over Discrimination

A Financial Times study stirs the pot with a new analysis: blacks and other out groups still face considerable discrmination in lending

“At CDC, Worries Mount That Agency Has Taken Anti-Science Turn”

How the debate over RFK, Jr. imposing big policy changes at the CDC illustrates the depth of tribalism in American discourse.

U.S. Utilities Put in a No-Win Position by Phantom Data Centers

AI players are gaming utilities, and creating high odd of bad outcomes for other customers, by making duplicate orders for power.

Jim Chanos on Crypto, AI, Dodgy Statistics, and Casino Capitalism

Chanos looks at a broad range of investment hot topics, from cypto to AI, and sees vastly more speculation than value creation

Powell Tap Dances on Interest Rate Outlook as Stagflation Starts to Kick In

Powell threw Mr. Market and Trump a bone by hinting the Fed might cut rates in Sept. But the Fed lacks good options with stagflation looming

Asking the Wrong Questions About Antidepressants

A new “reassuring” study about withdrawal from antidepressants shows how blinkered the thinking around this type of medication is.

Has Extreme Poverty Really Plunged Since the 1980s? New Analysis Suggests Not

A new analysis challenges the widely-held view that extreme poverty has fallen sharply, and finds a big reversal due to neoliberal “reforms”

Autism Fabulist RFK, Jr. Shuts Down Research Into Possible Environmental Causes Even as He Escalated Broad-Based Attack Against Vaccines.

More on RFK, Jr.’s hypocrisy.

Tucker Slams Predatory Buy Now, Pay Later Loans as the Economist Celebrates This New Debt Slavery Device

A relatively new financial product, buy now pay later loans, is deepening the misery of already over-extended Americans, especially Gen Z

New Study Attempts to Candy-Coat Impact of Job Loss

A reader critical thinking exercise! Time to take a hard look at a study that argues that losing your job may not be all that terrible.

James Galbraith: From the Fossil-Fuel Civilization Into …? Economics Gets a Biophysical Reality Check

James Galbraith argues that economics can’t keep ignoring that energy and resources for production are no longer abundant and easy to access

Putin-Trump Summit: Press and Collective West Political Hysteria Escalates as Russia Makes Large, Significant Advance Near Pokrovsk

Trump beats a big retreat in what he expects from the Putin summit even as Russia scores a major battlefield breakthrough.

What Is Happening to the Dollar as a Safe Haven?

Why the speed of the dollar’s demise seems to be a tad over-anticipated.