[onlooker]

Thought I would give a heads up to those who wish to follow economic statistics of the US. As many of us know, these stats are somewhat what did Bush say "fuzzy math" haha. So for the real accurate stats go to this site. Notice how categories like Inflation and Unemployment are skewered to seem better than they actually are. Here is link:
http://www.shadowstats.com/

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'T')hought I would give a heads up to those who wish to follow economic statistics of the US. As many of us know, these stats are somewhat what did Bush say "fuzzy math" haha. So for the real accurate stats go to this site. Notice how categories like Inflation and Unemployment are skewered to seem better than they actually are. Here is link:
http://www.shadowstats.com/

[onlooker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')unny how everything is always worse than reported. zerohedge would be proud.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')unny how everything is always worse than reported. zerohedge would be proud.

[onlooker]

I guess their is no way of verifying except via personal anecdotes and experiences and so you have someone like Ennui saying all is well and dandy as in his corner of the world it may be. I do believe what I believe just like everyone is free to believe what they wish too. The MSM is reporting facts but they are also a propaganda machine for the business as usual process and they continuously and consistently put a positive spin on many matters even while under reporting matters of utmost importance like the ecological devastation that continues apace. So if you OS and others wish to believe the "official version" of things so be it. I do know that more and more people are waking up to the real realities of the predicaments that all on the planet are now facing. Specifically, in regards to my original post I believe the stats on the site I linked and not official govt. stats as in my opinion governments and corporations are together interested in distorting the severity of the problems we face lest the mass populace finally reach a breaking point based on real problems or anxiety about the future which will ignite a revolutionary type fervor in them.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', ' ') We're all doomed short term, except that every month, year after year, when the next month rolls along, we're not.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', ' ')Specifically, in regards to my original post I believe the stats on the site I linked and not official govt. stats as in my opinion governments and corporations are together interested in distorting the severity of the problems we face lest the mass populace finally reach a breaking point based on real problems or anxiety about the future which will ignite a revolutionary type fervor in them.

[GregT]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', 'B')ecause in the doomer world everything is a conspiracy and the MSM lies about everything.

[copious.abundance]

The reason why conspiracy sites like Shadowstats can be proven to be wrong, and government figures can be more or less proven to be (generally) correct, is that there are plenty of non-government data sources one can use to corroborate the government stats.

A perfect example are the ADP monthly job figures. ADP is a check-cutting firm (largest in the country) which processes tens (hundreds?) of thousands of private sector paychecks every month. They use their information to come up with a monthly estimate of job gains/losses, two days before the government stats come out. Now, on a month-to-month basis the two frequently don't match up (there's a lot of noise in both data sets), but when one looks at the broader trends they match up pretty darn well:


source

The conspiracy theorists conveniently ignore non-government stats like ADP because if they didn't ignore them, they would be forced to confront the fact that they more-or-less agree with the "official" government stats. On occasion a doomer type will acknowledge their existence, but since the data they show does not match up with their preconceived notions of what they think/want to be going on in the economy, they then expand their conspiracy to include the private sector entities as well. For example, I can show you a lot of doomer types who think the National Association of Realtors is in on the conspiracy as well.

This tactic, of course, is intellectually honest, to say the least. The doomer types who engage in this kind of thinking are not actually looking for facts, they are deliberately engaging in self-deception (and trying to deceive others in the process). They pick and choose whatever they want to believe, and when something comes along that challenges these beliefs, they engage in all kinds of mental masturbation to convince themselves that what they're being shown is some sort of lie.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('copious.abundance', 'T')he reason why conspiracy sites like Shadowstats can be proven to be wrong, and government figures can be more or less proven to be (generally) correct, is that there are plenty of non-government data sources one can use to corroborate the government stats.

[copious.abundance]

The U3 unemployment rate - which is the "headline" rate - is the same rate the BLS has used ever since it began calculating an unemployment rate after the end of WWII (and actually, the theoretical work began during the Depression). In fact, the main reason why that particular rate continues to be the headline rate is because it's the only one which offers historical continuity prior to the early 90's, which is when they also started publishing alternate rates (U6, U9, etc).

I've explained this before on this site. Unfortunately it seems to fall on deaf ears.

Shadowstats adds whatever they want to add to the government stats to make it look worse. They even engage in double-counting (I've pointed that out here as well). Then they just say that it's more "accurate" and suckers who want to believe it shell out $$ to be spoon-fed garbage because it tells them what they want to hear.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')or instance---the current US unemployment rate doesn't include millions of people the BLS categorizes as "discouraged workers"

[copious.abundance]

Here - this is the U4 rate, which includes the headline/U3 rate plus discouraged workers. Notice it says "Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics." I'd be more than happy to go to the BLS website itself and show you the same:


source

What's really funny/stupid is, people actually pay money to Shadowstats to get the same info they can get from the BLS for free!

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('copious.abundance', '
')What's really funny/stupid is, people actually pay money to Shadowstats to get the same info they can get from the BLS for free!

[copious.abundance]

No, it is not the "old" methods, it is Shadowstats own made-up, fictitous versions of the stats that they claim are the "old" methods to convince gloom-and-doom types to shell out $$ so they can hear what they want to hear.

[ennui2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('copious.abundance', 'N')o, it is not the "old" methods, it is Shadowstats own made-up, fictitous versions of the stats that they claim are the "old" methods to convince gloom-and-doom types to shell out $$ so they can hear what they want to hear.

[onlooker]

Copious and others are trying to convince us everything is rosy just like MSM. Sorry but the posters here are a little bit more discerning than your average TV viewer. Thanks Plant for that bit of clarity. Now lets all go to the new topic I created to chronicle personal economic experiences. Our economic tracker. There you will hear first hand accounts of what is really going on.

[jackthomasdi]

Thanks for providing very useful information.