CBS Says White House Is Fudging Stimulus Jobs Numbers

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

MARK ZANDI: Well, these numbers are. The 600,000-plus estimates from the administration come from recipients of the stimulus aid. And, so, we know for sure that these jobs are for real.

As I said, by all means agree with the parts of the discussion that make sense to you. I agree that Edwards (CATO guy) made a powerful argument that the source of the data has a natural tendency to bias. Do please note the following however bit however:

MARK ZANDI: Well, I think there are -- all of the statistics that we get on the economy that the government collects are based on surveys and samples, similar to the one that was conducted here. So, I think they are using the same approaches and techniques in constructing these estimates then -- that we use for constructing all kinds of estimates to try to get a gauge of where the economy is.

If these numbers are biased, they are no more so than all other economic statistics that get trotted out (and acted upon by the financial markets, amongst others) all the time.

The problem with the recovery.gov numbers was that Associated Press had no problem blowing giant holes in the numbers, based solely on conversations with the very folks supplying those numbers to the Whitehouse (and receiving the aid). It wasn't a very big secret.

Edited October 31, 2009 by Lone Ranger