I have read the various primers on Shadowstats, and I agree with most of the methodology, and criticisms of changes to basic numbers like employment, and inflation. The governments methodology is seriously flawed and shadow stats points out where.
It must be hard for bureaucrats to argue with a straight face that inflation should be reduced for factors like the greater pleasure derived from digital readouts on a washer, or MTBE in gasoline from the pump. Even harder is the buyers choice benefit from selecting hamburger when steak gets too expensive. Even worse is removing the “volitle” food and energy impact on inflation. This would only be good for someone who is starving and freezing in the dark. Food and energy are integral to survival. The geometric weighting of cost increases is so prone to political manipulation, it renders the quality of the entire CPI suspect.
The 7% adder to CPI suggested by John Williams seems to be much closer to what I experience at the store. The employment numbers sare likewise better in shadowstats than from the BLS. I had no idea that 80% of the employment number was a population model with a 150k upward bias each month.
Take away the political crap and un-employment is closer to the range of 10 to 13 percent. The higher numbers are way closer to the impact I see on american college graduates who cannot obtain career types of employment in our so called 4.5% unemployment market.
