Interesting Sentence

This one comes from Felix Salmon, in an article titled "Why Official Statistics are like Corporate Earnings":

"Statistics can be useful, but only if nobody much cares about them."

I really enjoy this quote. I think its beauty lies in its simplicity. And how easily it cuts to the core of his position. I don't doubt that he is right in some respects, i.e. gerrymandering and perhaps some Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, but could he be right about other, more independent statistics-reporting firms? I'll have to think about that.