Posted by
Michael Heimlich on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 12:36:06 PM
It's been years since we've been able to trust government economic numbers. CPI calculations include substitution factors. Chicken prices are averaged in with beef prices if beef prices increase by too high an amount.
Productivity numbers are based, in part, on ludicrous factors such as a computer with a 2.0 GHz CPU is twice as productive as one with a 1.0 GHz CPU, not withstanding that both systems may be used by secretaries to run a text editor.
GDP numbers are adjusted for inflation, but inflation is usually underestimated. Most of the post-2002 recovery was, in fact, a recession.
I take no credit for this analysis. See:
http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data to get the details.