Drawing Connections after 8 Years

At the beginning of the year I started to notice something a bit fishy. The GDP numbers weren't reflecting the chaos that the rest of the world was experiencing. Like, you know, the housing catastrophe, banking turmoil and failures, Walls Street's schizophrenic reactions, and not to mention rising energy and consumer prices, and a devaluation of the dollar (minus the current rebound).

I realized that the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Commerce are all appointed by the Bush administration: am I fishing?  I wouldn't think so, but I wouldn't put it past this administration to pull a fast one during the election season.  You know, help a friend in need.

The "polls" say that economics will be the deciding factor in the election (well it should be!), despite the war in Iraq.  McCain with 7 seven houses, a billionaire wife, and his self confessed ignorance of the economy has made his own coffin.  So what to do, what to do? I know... possibly fudge the numbers? Oh, wait that would be to obvious... Um, underfund the agency which would do the accounting and reporting for the United States government. 

Am I reaching?  Well MSNBC's web article  increases my suspicion that the cronies are tinkering with the numbers, just a little bit. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want, but there is large jump in the number and a far cry from public sentiment.  It's not rocket science.