Ed Elson

The people at the BLS are not lying.

As we've discussed before, if there's any reason why the numbers are wrong, it's that there was an actual data problem.

Some irregularity in the survey, some problem in the reporting that made the numbers flawed.

And if that is the case...

well, it's important then that you show me your evidence.

Show me why you believe in this very bold claim that the US government's data is incorrect.

In other words, this is no small statement.

And yet, in this case, it is actually true.

And it all goes back once again to that stupid month of October when the government shut down all of its operations, including its ability to go out and measure prices, which means they literally didn't collect the data.

And more importantly, they didn't adjust for that data.

Instead, they simply assumed, as Mark told us, that prices just remain the same, probably because it was the least political assumption they could make.

But we all know, of course, that isn't true.

Prices always change.

And this is a real problem.

Because it didn't just affect the October report, it also affects multiple reports after that.

The October numbers impact the November numbers, which impact the December numbers, and so on and so forth.

And then the question becomes, at what point is the data going to be correct?

And the answer appears to be, according to Mark...

next year, next October.

But the more important point stands, and that is prices didn't rise 2.7% year over year, which by the way is already very high.