Data shift to lift US economy 3%

[hughee99]

7. I don't think the issue is necessarily anti-science.

Personally, I'm all for any study that provides more accurate information, but will the new numbers actually be used for enlightenment or support?

For example I think everyone understands that 10% unemployment (as currently calculated) is bad, and lets say the government puts out that there's 10% unemployment. Imagine if they figure out a new system of calculating unemployment that turns the 10% into 7% and announce that unemployment is now 7%. People will believe that things have improved SIGNIFICANTLY from the previous 10%, when in fact, the reality has not changed at all.

Next year during the '14 election season, no doubt someone will be touting the GDP which just got a 3% bump from the new system, and comparing it to a * era news article using the old system talking about how much things have improved without mentioning that it's now an apples to oranges comparison now. Yes, they've announced they're going to go back and recalculate previous years under this new system, but this now means the only way you can get apples to apples comparisons is to go to this one source for all your info. Understandably, that can make people nervous.