Math and the news: shopping...

"flunking home economics"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/garden/20math.html?em

No surprise when Best Buy reports that sales of flat screen TVs are down.

Wal-Mart, however, reports that sales of flat screens ahve gone up.

Theory is that people think they are saving money because they're shopping at Wal-Mart... but not really figuring on what they *need* - "Somehow, because Wal-Mart feels like a bargain store, shoppers who have deprived themselves of luxury items elsewhere rationalized their purchases at Wal-Mart as ‘getting a good deal,’ ” Mr. Brafman continued. “Granted, flat-panel TV’s at Wal-Mart might run a little cheaper than elsewhere, but no financial adviser would include one on his or her list of Items to Buy During Tough Times.”"

Now, I suspect that lots of folks thnk they need a new TV because of the digital changes in February. (Neither my 5-inch nor my 7-inch TV work, so I don't worry about it.) Still... we've got an innumeracy problem.