That the BLS perpetually distorts and manipulates data is no secret and has been reported previously both here and elsewhere numerous times. That the BLS also has a habit of leaking critical market moving data [6]to various entities is also well known. However, we had yet to see just what the BLS is capable of when it comes to fudging and outright slaughtering economic data in a presidential election year. The result is nothing short of a 3 sigma stunner.
John Lohman explains:
It has been well over a year and a half since Zero Hedge first exposed the Department of Labor’s incessant upward revisions to Initial Jobless Claims (here [7]). As this ridiculous bias continued, it was eventually called out by such “non-fringe” media sources as CNBC (here [8]).
One might think that, after 18 months of exposure, the almost-as-fast-as-a-blind-and-retarded-turtle statisticians at the BLS would “find” and correct the bias. Alas, one would be wrong. Not only does the bias continue, it’s getting worse. Much worse. As illustrated in the chart below, 2012 year-to-date revisions are running 3x the long-term average.
[9]
Indeed, the most recent revision was the fourth largest on record. If one only read the headlines this year (at such blogs that specialize in architectural billings, deliveries by canoe, and what not), one would have the impression that Initial Claims have fallen nearly 25,000 this year. The revised reality? Barely over 10,000. And that’s a 10,000 improvement against a number that has been revised upward by 50,000. So, yeah.