Via Kevin B., who notes “1984 wasn’t a warning; it was a playbook”.
Don’t like how high debt-to-GDP figures are? Revise ’em. Unhappy at the post-‘recovery’ growth rates? Revise ’em. Disappointed at the pace of economic improvement in the last decade or two compared to the rest of the world? Revise ’em. This week “we are essentially rewriting economic history” as the BEA is set to revise GDP data from as far back as 1929.
The Hansen Effect.
If the climate data isn’t cooperating with your theory, just change it.
Start counting spending on research, development and copyrights as investments,
and reflect pension deficits (10 Trillion dollars) for the first time.
Combined they are expected to add 3 per cent to the gross domestic product.
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Bernie Made-off with 60 billion dollars of investors monies telling everyone how valuable his company was.
Bernie Made-off is spending the rest of his life in a North Carolina prison not far from where I live.
But now we hear-
“We are from the Federal Ponzi Scheme and are willing to help you invest in the US Government Bond Bonanza.”
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‘suckers are born every minute,’
Barnum Bailey-Jay(Barker)Carney and the federal reserve ..
Another great example of great deceit that is macroeconomics. Like AGW, like environmentalism, macroeconomics is just another stalking horse of the left, giving cover to the political class as it enacts socialism. The entire profession is a very willing enabler of the political class’s efforts to rob the people.
An example of this deceit not mentioned at the link is how the huge price inflation in new cars and trucks that has occured over the last 20 years has been scrubbed from the inflation statistics reported on the news. It is simply adjusted away by economists, so that the data fits their statist biases.
Likewise, these radicals masquerading as economists don’t include food price inflation, or fuel inflation in those statistics. The best thing to do to end their deceit is end state funding for macroeconomics professors in the universities.
The fact that governments abuse data does not make Macroeconomics a “fraud” … it makes the politicians who control the public agencies the frauds.
The laws of economics are immutable just as the laws of physics are.
This is what makes it easy for anyone with a sound understanding of the fundamentals to see through and debunk the most elaborate frauds in either realm.
In the matter of the BEA … they are changing the rules to appease their political masters.
The frauds are people who make false claims out of ignorance or malice.
Confidence in the ability of world commerce to ‘grow’ itself out of the international debt problem resided in a large degree to growth in developing countries such as the BRIC group. These hopes are slowly being adjusted down as the reality is not meeting the hopes.
Relocation of jobs to cheaper countries, automation, poorer education standards, older demographics are all contributing to the destruction of the middle class. The days of doubling a standard of living in a lifetime are over. Many are experiencing a actual decline in living standard. This is all destructive to society as this realization comes home to millions. In Euroland in voters flock to politicans who make false claims of re-establishing the ‘norm’. The chances of that ever happening shrink daily. Fighting over how the pie is divided is now the norm rather than increasing the size. Capitalism’s struggle is the reality that it might not be possible to grow the pie larger. Progressives are no further ahead as they make false promises they cannot afford. Unfortunately progressive promises will probably win out Detroit not withstanding.
And let’s always keep in mind that the fraudulent stats are tallied in fiat currency.
Backed by, as Elaine might put it, AB-SO-LUTE-LY nothing.
Somebody didn’t get the memo, because 1st quarter GDP was revised from 1.8 to 1.0 percent.
This is not about the ideology of the right and the left. This is about western party systems that are based on division and diversion, the parties’ own self-interest trumping the needs of healthy capitalist economies.
Don’t try to bullshit me into believing one side has all the virtues while the other is evil. Right, left, right, left….the party system is marching us into the abyss.
With the help of a shallow MSM, massive problems go unchecked by all past and current governments because the fortunes of the parties outweigh that of the populace. How can serious and painful decisions be made and acted upon when popularity is king?
As Harper has so eloquently demonstrated with his “liberal-light” performance, the right and left have far more commonalities than differences.
Currently, the economic behavior of ALL western governments, despite the ideology advertised, is simply suicidal for democracy.
I recall the RCMP/CFC doing this as we approached the deadline for registering all the duck guns in Canada. Having only about 60% compliance they revised the number of firearms owned in Canada to fit with a 90% compliance rate. Numbers juggling is done all the time in the corrupt technocracy of big government.
OMMAG – I’ m with you as far as microeconomics is concerned – the economics of business. It essentially all derives from 2 very strong axioms, and logic. The fact that very sophisticated economies that have served human need very well were built on those axioms, demonstrates micros validity
Macro, on the other hand is assertion piled on assertion, piled on assertion, none of which are provable. If you follow the history of macro thought, you see a ” science ” whose hypotheses are constantly embarrassed by data from the real economy. The problem is, that unlike scientists, macro economists never seem to be bothered by their theories being slaughtered by data from the real world. And, of course, like climate ” science” controlled experiments never can be conducted to test macro hypotheses. The reason macro persists, is that its acolytes tell the political class what it wants to hear, and facilitates their scams.
“Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity”-George Bernard Shaw and Ricky Jay.
Truth, Justice & the American way of life dies more every day Under this administration. As it not only lies to its people, but destroys the ties with its true allies , for the dubious friendship of those who bombed them.
The USA becomes more isolated from reality by the use of the MSM with each paper or broadcast. From the truth of what the World is becoming.
More Twisted history by the editors in the White house.
That 10 billon rounds of hollow point ammunition this Government has bought was not purchased for nothing.
CT: “The days of doubling a standard of living in a lifetime are over.”
Not necessarily. Economic problems are not a visitation from outer space, they are caused by interventionist government policies. It won’t be simple to undo them all but those days of doubling standards (or even better) will be back once we get government, i.e. coercion, out of the way.
CT: “Capitalism’s struggle is the reality that it might not be possible to grow the pie larger.”
It’s not capitalism that is struggling, it’s the mixed economy with a heavy government sector and welfare state. Capitalism is the solution.