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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (358460)	4/8/2010 9:40:25 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793658

Personally, I think that the government has manipulated the figures so much over the years that people have lost track of much of anything that relates to real dollars today. The Government keeps spending money, and then borrowing money, so how does anyone really know what has happened over the years? From 1913 to 2007 the CPI is about 20 times as much inflationdata.com Historical CPI bls.gov BLS: CPI Shadowstats isn't the only site in town, but the wise folks will read it and the other possibilities, then decide for themselves what is the truth of the situation... >>>>>Shadowstats.com is a website that analyzes government economic and unemployment statistics based on methodologies used by previous United States administrations, from the pre-Clinton era to the time of the Great Depression.[1] Using Depression-era methodology, for example, the U.S. unemployment rate would have been 16.5% in January 2009, more than double the announced rate of 6.7%.[2] The site is authored by statistician John Williams.[1] Opinions of Williams' claims range from experts who scoff at his analysis[3] to authorities whose views echo those of Williams.[4] Williams and other critics of current methodologies point out that under President Lyndon Johnson, people who stopped looking for work for more than a year were no longer considered part of the counted labor force. That change dramatically decreased U.S. government reported jobless numbers, as does not counting part-time workers who are looking for full-time employment.[2] Williams also reports that the official numbers for U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and jobs growth range from deceptive[5] to "rigged" and "manipulated". Subscribers to shadowstats.com include individual and professional investors, along with conspiracy theorists and gold bugs.[3] Regarding inflation statistics, Williams says that some of the biggest changes to the Consumer Price Index were made between 1997-1999 in an effort to reduce Social Security outlays, using controversial changes by Alan Greenspan that include "hedonics", or the increased quality of goods.[4] en.wikipedia.org <<<<<< >>>>> Pollyanna Creep is a phrase that originated with John Williams, a California-based economic analyst and statistician.[1] It describes the way the U.S. government has modified the way important economic measures are calculated with the purpose of giving a better impression of economic development. This is a clear reference, in a sarcastic way, to Pollyanna's proverbial optimism. John Williams and other economic analysts, such as Kevin P. Phillips [2] argue the such manipulations distort the perception of electors and economic factors and have ill effects on political and investment decisions . United Kingdom Concern about the manipulation of statistics also exists in the United Kingdom. For example, inflation in the price of certain essentials (such as food and fuel) is far higher than that of the published consumer price index. It should be noted, however, that the more reasonable answer to this seeming conundrum is that food and fuel make up a relatively small proportion of overall average household expenditure (about 10% for food consumed at home, 5% for home fuel, 5% for car fuel). This is because although these make up a larger proportion of expenditure in a typical week, inflation consumption weights account for all expenditure, even those large items purchased only infrequently (e.g. motor vehicles, furniture, electronics, clothes, etc.) but that when purchased are very large commitments. Prices of these goods have risen much less quickly or have, in some cases, fallen. en.wikipedia.org <<<<<<