Monday, October 21, 2013

Gimmicks in Government Economic Statistics and Gimmicks in Accounting

I always wonder why the Government keeps reporting GDP growth and low inflation and yet, I keep having a hard time getting jobs and I am seeing everything cost a higher % of my paycheck than ever. ( Okay, former paycheck. Now I don't even have a paycheck anymore.)

Now that I had quit my job I have a lot more time watching old TV shows and reading up on the internet, I am not surprised to read on the internet that the Government has been manipulating the formulas of all economic statistics to understate inflation and to overstate economic growth.  According to the following chart published by Shadowstats.com, inflation would have been a few percentages higher if the government hadn't eliminated, since 1990,  certain costs of goods from the formula.


A second chart below pubished by Shadowstats.com shows that economic growth would have been a miserable negative if only the government hadn't tempered with the statistical formula of GDP.


It seems to me that, to keep the music going, and to keep certain people's pockets funded either by their jobs, their clients, their banks, their investors, their voters, gimmicks are frequently used by the government and also certain accountants to fudge the numbers to their advantage. With all these misleading overstatements and understatements everywhere, I can't help wondering if any economists or accountants out there knows how to correctly measure or account for anything anymore?  Why are there always so many gimmicks involved, be it inventory valuation, intangible assets impairment, revenue recognition, and economic data of all sorts. I hope I am just being over cynical due to the fact that I haven't had a new job offer yet.  Otherwise, the world is just too disheartening.

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