Free Republic

The table that I assembled is in response to vague references that we see and hear like "the BLS said", "the WSJ said", "radio/TV/Blog/column said" . . . the table has links directly to the original data. It's too large to post repeatedly on threads though I do hope to keep it current quarterly (with annualized data) until Election 2016. And change/add columns as needed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The dollar rose against the euro Friday after new data showed the U.S. economy grew slightly faster than was thought and fears were renewed over contagion from the Greek debt crisis. The Commerce Department said that the economy grew at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the first quarter, a touch higher than the 1.8 percent that was estimated a month ago. Commerce also said in a separate report that businesses increased their orders for machinery, electronics products and airplanes last month. Durable goods orders rose 1.9 percent in May after a 2.7 percent decline...

WASHINGTON – Fears that the economic recovery is fizzling grew Thursday after the government and private sector issued weak reports on a number of fronts. Unemployment claims are up, home sales are plunging without government incentives and manufacturing growth is slowing. Meanwhile, 1.3 million people are without federal jobless benefits now that Congress adjourned for a weeklong Independence Day recess without passing an extension. That number could grow to 3.3 million by the end of the month if lawmakers can't resolve the issue when they return. All of this worries economists. As jobless claims grow and benefits shrink, Americans have...

As if anyone needed more reasons to doubt the data coming out of our government. Earlier today the Commerce Department reported that January retail sales data came at a nice and bubbly 0.5% sequential increase, and an even nicer and bubblier 4.7% YoY. This presumably beat expectations which were looking for a sequential beat of 0.3%. Yet here comes the much more reliable Gallup data to throw some salt in yet another economic data fabrication. According to daily Gallup consumer polling, which due to its lack of proximity to the government propaganda complex is vastly more reliable, the January average...

Many market-watchers claim that U.S. economic statistics are increasingly being revised downward in subsequent periods, suggesting that the figures initially being reported by Washington are "puffed up," so to speak, most likely for political purposes. Well, I went back and had a look at the differences between the reported and revised data for various series, including monthly retail sales, nonfarm payrolls, industrial production, and durable goods orders, to try and figure out if the cynics are right. Using data from Bloomberg, I calculated whether the revised data for each month was lower than the first-cut estimate. Then I tabulated 12-month...

WASHINGTON - President Bush, working to retool the Republican message for 2006, is trying to shift public attention to something in short supply during his almost five years in office: a run of good economic figures. "We're heading into a new year with an economy that is the envy of the world, and we have every reason to be optimistic about our economic future," he told a news conference this week. Bush's pivot to highlight the economy started at the beginning of the month after a government report revealed that 215,000 jobs had been created in November. Bush went before...

"We're seeing confidence in the economy improving among just about all Americans," said Raghavan Mayur, president of TIPP, a unit of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, IBD's polling partner. He credits a string of good news showing an economy gaining momentum. "Job growth has been strong, with more than 200,000 new jobs added in July alone. Beyond that, factory orders are up, average weekly wages are up, interest rates are still low and the Fed has done its part to keep inflation at bay." "Consumer confidence has clearly turned up," added Terry Jones, associate editor at Investor's Business Daily. "Despite the spurt...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. consumer credit rose in April at an annual rate of 0.7%, or $1.3 billion, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday. The increase was much less than expected. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting consumer credit to rise by $7.4 billion. Credit card debt decreased 0.6% in April, the second straight month of decline. Nonrevolving credit like auto loans rose 1.5%. The increase in consumer credit in March, meanwhile, was revised to 3.9% from 3.1%.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. industrial output grew strongly last month while producer prices fell at the sharpest rate in 1-1/2 years amid tumbling energy prices, according to reports suggesting healthy, noninflationary growth. U.S. factories, mines and utilities boosted production by a more-than-expected 0.8 percent in December, leading to a 4.1 percent gain for all of 2004, the best annual showing in four years, a Federal Reserve report showed on Friday. Separately, the Labor Department said producer prices dropped 0.7 percent last month, a sharper-than-expected decline and the biggest since April 2003. Prices were also well contained when excluding volatile food...

Sometimes data can be art, some see it one way while others see things differently. Courtesy BBC. -----------North Africa------------------- Algeria: Life Expectancy 68 (men), 71 (women) GNI per capita $1,720 Morocco: Life Expectancy 71 (men), 75 (women) GNI per capita $1,170 Tunisia: Life Expectancy 67 (men), 70 (women) GNI per capita $2,070 Libya: Life Expectancy 71 (men), 75 (women) GNI per capita $N/A Egypt: Life Expectancy 67 (men), 71 (women) GNI per capita $1,470 ---------Central Africa------------ Equatorial Guinea: Life Expectancy 48 (men), 50 (women) GNI per capita $930 Cameroon: Life Expectancy 45 (men), 47 (women) GNI per capita $550 Central...