[Lurker]

I didn’t make a suggestion. I called “bullshit” on their “estimated” numbers.

Which households are they calling? When are they calling them? Where are these households located? What exactly are these households being asked? Who’s doing the answering? What biases are inserted by those doing estimating?

Until you know the answers to these questions you’re talking out off your ass.

[zzeeman]

Which households are they calling? When are they calling them? Where are these households located? What exactly are these households being asked? Who’s doing the answering? What biases are inserted by those doing estimating?

Exactly, those and other questions about the statistical massaging done after they collect the survey “data,” all point up how this (U3 or other) number is just a SWAG that can be polished to be basically anything that is desired at a given point in time. I would suspect that close to 95% of people in this country think/believe that the widely reported U3 “number” is based upon some type of an actual count or accumulation of real “data” (with the vast majority believing that UE claim data makes up some substantial part of it).

Of course, the PTB like it that way. Keep 'em in the dark and feed 'em BS.