PEOPLE WHO DO NOT KNOW MATH MAY BE CONDEMNED TO BE VICTIMS

This week people kept telling me how many points the stock market was down.

During the debt crises, people kept telling me the amount of the nation debt.

Neither piece of information actually helps me make a decision.

We should be ALWAYS looking at the up and downs of the stock market in terms of PERCENTAGE. National debt should be discussed in terms of PERCENTAGE of the gross domestic product of the country being discussed.

THIS IS IMPORTANT. If you owe someone $1000.00, and your yearly pay is $1000.00, you will have difficulty paying the debt. This is because you owe someone 100% of your yearly income.

If you owe someone $1000.00 and your yearly pay is $10,000.00, you will probably have little difficulty in paying the debt. This is because you owe someone 10% of your yearly income.

If you have trouble figuring out what percentage means, always think of it in terms of cents on the dollar. 5% of a dollar is five cents. Fifty percent of a dollar is fifty cents. See how easy it is?

It is impressive to say the stock market is down 500 points. It is not impressive to say the stock market is down 5%.

You can really get upset if a nation's debt is over a trillion dollars. But if that nation's GNP is $10 trillion, then the numbers are WAY less upsetting as it is only 10% of the yearly "gross income" of that country.

One of the ways people get frightened into making stupid decisions is because they are reacting to the number of zeros because no one gives them the percentages.

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW BASIC MATH, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE VULNERABLE.