So what are the ethics involved with using numbers to make our point even when we know things could be seen differently if we presented it a bit differently? Remember, morals are what we know about right and wrong as individuals, ethics is the systems of formal and informal rules society adopts for the application of morals. (Example, most of us would agree that killing a human is morally wrong, however, the ethical system says it is okay to kill in self-defense, war, and some other situations.)
Yi really wants a car but her credit is pretty poor and she doesn't make much money. Both of those make a new car impossible for her. Instead, she finds a used car seller who offers credit to anyone and a no down payment deal. She knows that they are charging more for the car she wants than what she would pay if she bought it with cash from someone selling their own car but she can get credit. The deal sounds really good. The car is being sold for $9,995 with no money down. Unfortunately, her interest rate is going to be 18% for the five years she has the loan. By law, all of this has to be in the loan document but the salesperson will focus on the no money down, easy credit, and the $9,995 car is much cheaper than what she could get new.
Yet, just with simple interest calculations, Yi's monthly payment will be $253.81 and her total cost for the car will be $15,228.60.
If she simply saved that same payment for four months and put $1,000 down, she would likely qualify for a lower interest rate and could either get a lower monthly payment ($186.72) or she could buy a $13,000 car for the same monthly payment.
Is there a difference between what you're willing to present as ethical to a consumer versus what you would consider ethical if a salesperson did it to you? At what point do you feel unfairly manipulated by numbers? How much should we trust number-based evidence? How do we know we are being manipulated fairly or unfairly?
So what are the ethics involved with using numbers to make our point even when we know things could be seen differently if we presented it a bit differently? Remember, morals are what we know about right and wrong as individuals, ethics is the systems of formal and informal rules society adopts for the application of morals. (Example, most of us would agree that killing a human is morally wrong, however, the ethical system says it is okay to kill in self-defense, war, and some other situations.)
Yi really wants a car but her credit is pretty poor and she doesn't make much money. Both of those make a new car impossible for her. Instead, she finds a used car seller who offers credit to anyone and a no down payment deal. She knows that they are charging more for the car she wants than what she would pay if she bought it with cash from someone selling their own car but she can get credit. The deal sounds really good. The car is being sold for $9,995 with no money down. Unfortunately, her interest rate is going to be 18% for the five years she has the loan. By law, all of this has to be in the loan document but the salesperson will focus on the no money down, easy credit, and the $9,995 car is much cheaper than what she could get new.
Yet, just with simple interest calculations, Yi's monthly payment will be $253.81 and her total cost for the car will be $15,228.60.
If she simply saved that same payment for four months and put $1,000 down, she would likely qualify for a lower interest rate and could either get a lower monthly payment ($186.72) or she could buy a $13,000 car for the same monthly payment.
Is there a difference between what you're willing to present as ethical to a consumer versus what you would consider ethical if a salesperson did it to you? At what point do you feel unfairly manipulated by numbers? How much should we trust number-based evidence? How do we know we are being manipulated fairly or unfairly?
