statistical lies

Prevailing Truths

According to official US economic data, the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has expanded for 22 quarters, raising real GDP 12.1% above its high prior to the 2008-09 economic contraction. Yet, US manufacturing output and US industrial production have not recovered to their pre-contraction high.  So what is driving the real GDP growth?  In my opinion, the rise in real GDP is an illusion produced by the under-measurement of inflation.

Ignoring Economic Reality

Trump and Hillary have come out with the obligatory “economic plans.” Neither them nor their advisors, have any idea about what really needs to be done, but this is of no concern to the media.

The presstitutes operate according to “pay and say.” They say what they are paid to say and that is whatever serves the corporations and the government. This means that the presstitutes like Hillary’s economic plan and do not like Trump’s.

New York Post Claims Census Falsifies Unemployment Figures

The New York Post is reporting an absolute bombshell story if true.  They claim the September 2012 unemployment report was manipulated and survey data was faked, just in time for the election.  The story quotes anonymous sources, insiders from the Census Bureau who claim to have falsified survey data for the unemployment report.

The No Jobs Economy is the New Economy

One of my most popular columns was about escaping from the Matrix existence in which Americans live.  It is a world of disinformation and misinformation in which facts are fiction, and abstract theories are substituted for empirical reality.

Official government statistics are make-believe.  The government makes inflation and unemployment disappear by how it defines inflation and unemployment, and it makes the economy grow by how it defines Gross Domestic Product.  The definitional basis determines the statistical result.

Jukin' The Stats.

My all time favorite TV series is "The Wire", which ran for 5 years on HBO. Throughout the series, the common thread was the affinity, by the police, the mayor, city politicians and even the drug lords, to "juke the stats". In other words, "tell them what they want to hear", and move on.

In this vein, I've been all over the econoblogosphere today and I'm surprised that this excellent article from Yves Smith hasn't gotten more attention.

Many of us here at EP, and elsewhere, have questioned the veracity of new data eminating from the Census Bureau, the BLS (a.k.a. Bureau of Lying Statistics) and other gov't agencies. In particular, any new reports pertaining to housing, unemployment levels and CPI must be taken with a heavy dose of skepticism.