Doug, they are honest, but also susceptible to arm twisting on occassion. Remember your story about gasoline additives creating a quality increase and not a price increase.
What about the political pressure (Boskin commission)? On the whole, I still agree with you -- although you don't need to be as harsh on Leigh. On Fri, Apr 28, 2006 at 11:23:04AM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote: > Leigh Meyers wrote: > > >Now we're on the same wavelength! Yes, they're making that "stuff" up, > >or to be more precise, a lot of it, perhaps most of it. > > > >Research is more than reciting numbers... It's also verifying the > >validity and veracity OF the numbers, especially when they come from > >sources (governments, and the apparatchik) that have a vested interest > >in 'blue skies and happy times' under their regime... and typically, > >under close examination, or in retrospect, those numbers are fudged. > > Michael will no doubt rebuke me for this, so mea culpas in advance. > > You really have no idea what you're talking about, and worse, you > don't care. I spend a good bit of my working life studying these > figures - how they're defined and collected, their strengths and > weakness, etc. The people who put them together are honest, > competent, and serious people who are very open about what they do. > You're just belching out a lot of know-nothingism. > > Doug -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
