EZguide:How-To COOK the GDP

- Little by little, people are beginning to realize that reports of growth in the GDP are greatly exaggerated. Last week, an economist at Merrill Lynch went public with the story. "One economist who's telling the truth," is the headline in the NY Post.
- According to John Crudele, the column's author, David A. Rosenberg, Merrill Lynch's chief economist for North America, has a bone to pick with government statistics. First of all, Rosenberg "concluded that the money being spent on computers and other technology by businesses is nowhere near what is being reported by the government."
- Using what our own Dr. Richebächer calls "hedonic price indexing" - valuing computers by their computing potential, rather than dollars spent on them - government number crunchers pretend that businesses have spent $133 billion on computers and peripherals since the recession bottomed out. In fact, according to Rosenberg, the number is closer to $15 billion.
- According to John Crudele, the column's author, David A. Rosenberg, Merrill Lynch's chief economist for North America, has a bone to pick with government statistics. First of all, Rosenberg "concluded that the money being spent on computers and other technology by businesses is nowhere near what is being reported by the government."
- Using what our own Dr. Richebächer calls "hedonic price indexing" - valuing computers by their computing potential, rather than dollars spent on them - government number crunchers pretend that businesses have spent $133 billion on computers and peripherals since the recession bottomed out. In fact, according to Rosenberg, the number is closer to $15 billion.