Posted 10:09 AM by Gene

A (Bad) Joke:

Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing at Dow Jones & Co.? An April 23 editorial in the Wall Street Journal complained that the monthly job numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics have “become unreliable,” and by underreporting job growth, the BLS is hurting the economy.

Kudos to the Journal. It certainly is great to see such an influential news organization point out the problem, and call for government reform. But maybe Dow Jones could also help the economy by convincing its own editors and writers to exercise smarter editorial judgment: To stop reporting the flawed BLS data as if it were gospel.

Unfortunately, last Friday, Dow Jones (and to be fair, much of the business media) were at it again, parroting without skepticism BLS seasonally adjusted growth for April at only 88,000....

The BLS numbers have put the brakes on a vibrant economy during the last two years by frightening investors away from U.S. equity markets blahblahblah....

1. Considering that the right hand is the CONSERVATIVE EDITION, and the left hand is the LIBERAL EDITION, the answer is NO. 2. Those fantasy numbers don't seem to have discouraged investors in the last six months -- and especially during the MASSACRE RALLY. 3. Why should we believe economists in the first place, regardless of where they report their numbers? 4. Would it make you happy if you could have folks parrot your own idea of accurate numbers?