the republican Rube Goldberg contraption, can we realistically trust
the data that come out of the various US departments anymore?
there are graphs, but for obvious reasons they are not included.
for the less intellectually curious, please visit the site to view
the graphs.
http://www.suddendebt.blogspot.com/
FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2008
Data To Die For
How can we realistically trust the data that come out of the various
US departments anymore? Even given the benefit of the doubt, i.e.
assuming model massage was originally established to provide a clearer
picture of the US economy, the ultimate result now looks more like an
elaborate GIGO * contraption designed by Rube Goldberg.
Case in point: the Net Birth/Death model of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. During the most severe downturn in the real estate and
homebuilding sector since the Great Depression, the model keeps
creating phantom construction jobs (see chart below, click to
enlarge).
Not only did the model spew out a total of 98,000 net additional
construction jobs in the 12 months to April 2008, it produced more
such jobs in April 2008 than the same month last year (45,000 vs.
37,000, or +21%). In other words, new construction businesses that
were established in that period supposedly created many more jobs than
those lost from businesses shutting down.
The first casualty of war is the truth - Aeschylus. Problem is, who's
the enemy?
_____________________
*Garbage in, garbage out
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