To reinforce the points I recently made regarding the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, and more generally for all government data releases, this guest post at Zero Hedge gives an expanded description of the issues and possible fixes. The bottom line remains that the firing is well-justified, given that these data and methodological issues are not a new thing and simply haven’t been fixed or even addressed. I am hoping a real professional with more innovative ideas will be hired. But I don’t think the numbers are rigged, this is more incompetence than political. As usual, we could do without Trump’s bombastic insults, however good the decisions and policies. (ZH Post)
