We have our own independent statistics keepers here too:
ShadowStats these are the ones I believe.
That’s funny.
Thank you for the link. I will be spending some time there.
Interesting historical tidbits re: Clinton Era reporting.
I would like to study more on this to see what it all means.
http://www.shadowstats.com/article/special-comment
Consider from the New York Times, “Panel Sees a Corrected Price Index as Deficit-Cutter,” September 15, 1995, by Robert D. Hershey, Jr.:
“Speaker Newt Gingrich, Republican of Georgia, suggested this week that fixing the [CPI] index, with its implications for lower spending [Social Security, etc.] and higher revenue [tax bracket adjustments], would provide maneuvering room for budget negotiators …”
“Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, is among the other Government officials who have spoken optimistically about financial benefits of a more accurate [CPI] index …”
snip
From the San Francisco Chronicle, “Government’s economic data misleading, he says,” May 25, 2008, by Sam Zuckerman:
“In the 1990s, for example, Republicans wanted to make changes in calculating inflation along the lines recommended by a special commission, including more use of quality adjustments. By lowering the official inflation rate, such changes promised to reduce the annual cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security and other federal programs.
“[Katherine] Abraham, the Clinton bureau [of Labor Statistics] commissioner, remembers sitting in Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s office:
“’He said to me, If you could see your way clear to doing these things, we might have more money for BLS programs.’”
On the surface, it seems to be another reason that, while I heartily approve his stated intentions and plans should he become president (and believe he would implement some of them), I am not sure what his agenda really is, or whether I trust him completely.