The nation's personal savings rate -- savings as a percentage of disposable income -- which had dipped to record lows in negative territory was 2.1 percent in the third quarter under the new calculations.
Under the new GDP methodology, savings associated with a worker's government pension plan will be counted as personal
savings, rather than government savings. That doesn't affect the
GDP, but it does boost the nation's personal savings rate.
Hilarious! Take your $2,000 credit card balance to the bank and tell them that under the new methodology, they really owe you $3,000.
Doug, some of the more paranoid bears I read are convinced there is a fairly concerted effort on the part of government statisticians to massage the numbers and revise calculations in order not to upset the markets. Do you think there is anything to this?
-- Enrique Diaz-Alvarez Office # (607) 255 5034 Electrical Engineering Home # (607) 272 4808 112 Phillips Hall Fax # (607) 255 4565 Cornell University mailto:enrique at ee.cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14853 http://peta.ee.cornell.edu/~enrique