Nice OP-Ed on the real economic situation.

iamwhatiseem

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Aug 19, 2010
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I particularly like these words:
Many economists have long criticized everything from the consumer price index to the gross domestic product for their flaws, too. Almost always, these flaws result in a better economic picture. You never hear an economist say, "wow, that GDP number really understates America's amazing growth," or, "boy, that unemployment report doesn't fully count all the wonderful new jobs we just created."

The "hole in the bucket" analogy is an excellent one that I have been saying all along.

Read more: A Hole in the Bucket Drains Recovery | Fox Business
 
A shit sandwich is still a shit sandwich no matter how much mustard you put on it. The UE numbers over the past 3 months have been really bad, I'm not okay with sugar coating it.
 
I particularly like these words:
Many economists have long criticized everything from the consumer price index to the gross domestic product for their flaws, too. Almost always, these flaws result in a better economic picture. You never hear an economist say, "wow, that GDP number really understates America's amazing growth," or, "boy, that unemployment report doesn't fully count all the wonderful new jobs we just created."

The "hole in the bucket" analogy is an excellent one that I have been saying all along.

Read more: A Hole in the Bucket Drains Recovery | Fox Business

Ahhh, the question is whether the perceived flaws make the economic situation look better than it really is, or if the criticisms make the economic situaton look worse than it really is.

The changes in the CPI are criticized for making the rate lower, without addressing the question of whether the CPI had been overstated. Just looking at the math, it was overstated because a Laspeyeres index will always give the maximum bound of change.
 
I particularly like these words:
Many economists have long criticized everything from the consumer price index to the gross domestic product for their flaws, too. Almost always, these flaws result in a better economic picture. You never hear an economist say, "wow, that GDP number really understates America's amazing growth," or, "boy, that unemployment report doesn't fully count all the wonderful new jobs we just created."

The "hole in the bucket" analogy is an excellent one that I have been saying all along.

Read more: A Hole in the Bucket Drains Recovery | Fox Business

Ahhh, the question is whether the perceived flaws make the economic situation look better than it really is, or if the criticisms make the economic situaton look worse than it really is.

The changes in the CPI are criticized for making the rate lower, without addressing the question of whether the CPI had been overstated. Just looking at the math, it was overstated because a Laspeyeres index will always give the maximum bound of change.

I really don't think the Op-Ed was about CPI's period.
For me the "hole-in-the-bucket" analogy where even if the government started writing checks directly to taxpayers - the lion share of that money would go to buy cheap foreign goods resulting in a very low net job gain. That is the hole in the bucket.
 
...For me the "hole-in-the-bucket" analogy where even if the government started writing checks directly to taxpayers - the lion share of that money would go to buy cheap foreign goods resulting in a very low net job gain. That is the hole in the bucket.
--and it's a crock.

Half-baked pundits like Al Lewis know there's always readers for this garbage. Those of us working for a living know better, that jobs, factory output, wealth creation, and over all economic activity increase whenever that stupid 'trade deficit' gets bigger. The opposite's true also. Yesterday the negative trade balance shrank by $900 million while last week's nonfarm payrolls fell by 21,000 and continuing unemployment claims rose by 10,000.

Trade deficit shrinks and more people out of work; in real life there's no way around it.
 
...For me the "hole-in-the-bucket" analogy where even if the government started writing checks directly to taxpayers - the lion share of that money would go to buy cheap foreign goods resulting in a very low net job gain. That is the hole in the bucket.
--and it's a crock.

Half-baked pundits like Al Lewis know there's always readers for this garbage. Those of us working for a living know better, that jobs, factory output, wealth creation, and over all economic activity increase whenever that stupid 'trade deficit' gets bigger. The opposite's true also. Yesterday the negative trade balance shrank by $900 million while last week's nonfarm payrolls fell by 21,000 and continuing unemployment claims rose by 10,000.

Trade deficit shrinks and more people out of work; in real life there's no way around it.
All true but then explaining why national cash flow, GDP, is not national income much less the national balance sheet will take roughly 1500-3000 wds to explain. I do hope you have a much bigger can for all them worms.
 
Welcome back Will, you were missed here!
...Trade deficit shrinks and more people out of work; in real life there's no way around it.
...why national cash flow, GDP, is not national income...
We may not be talking about the same stuff here. The OP-ED says the trade deficit is bad for us and is the reason the economy tanked. That's crazy. The trade-deficit got smaller with the collapse and is returning with the recovery:
tradegdpetc.png
 
Welcome back Will, you were missed here!
...Trade deficit shrinks and more people out of work; in real life there's no way around it.
...why national cash flow, GDP, is not national income...
We may not be talking about the same stuff here. The OP-ED says the trade deficit is bad for us and is the reason the economy tanked. That's crazy. The trade-deficit got smaller with the collapse and is returning with the recovery:
tradegdpetc.png
Exactly real national income, goods and services purchased, increases in sync with the trade deficit.
 

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