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via Commentary Magazine by John Podhoretz on 10/5/12
A friend who works as a very very high-level consultant writes:One of the things my shop does is create forecasting models for clients—major firms like [BIG RETAILER] and [BIG FOOD PRODUCER]—you know, people who have to lay out big money on big decisions. We are a consumer of the data produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the sense that we use it as raw material in models. For example, we use periodic U-1, U-2, etc as predictors of forward sales.If the people who have to predict what consumer spending patterns will be like this month don't believe the numbers, with tens of millions of dollars in sales on the line, why should the rest of us?
Now imagine me, telling [BIG RETAILER] to load up several millions in extra inventory in anticipation of a sales spike in three weeks because BLS says 873,000 people got jobs last month. They would laugh me out of the room before canceling our contract.
If you think there was skepticism about these numbers in the press, you should've heard it at my office this morning. We are treating September numbers as an aberration, as, I am sure, is anyone who has to make an actual decision off them.
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