Statistics! or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

I teach statistics at the college level. Luckily the press gives me plenty of opportunity to use real-life as an example.

Banner headlines in the business section of the Denver Post:

Foreclosures piling up
Colorado rate nation's highest during March

The article goes on to say that there is a 31% increase in the number of homes that are in some stage of foreclosure -- more on the "Some Stage" later. Lets look at the numbers - 1 in every 339 are in this serious stage. that is .3% of about one third of one percent. That's three houses out of a thousand.

Now over at our other paper The Rocky Mountain News a faily more responsible column heading:

Reuteman: Foreclosures a cloud over Colorado's rosy outlook

Getting into the article, Mr. Routeman discusses, quite nicely, the real problem -- "Creative financing"

Two newspaperspapers in the same city - One putting up scare headlines, the other discussing a serious story. Guess which one leans left and which one leans right?

BTW - "some stage" means that they might be a couple of payments late -- how many of these actually default? I have no idea,