News Spotting cont.

Cookin' the Books
I've been a secretary for a few folks over the years, and I've seen some pretty fancy bookkeeping. However, our government's latest attempts at making our economic slide look better, or even okay, has really taken on the airs of "cookin' the books." Some how, the analysts (I definitely want whatever it is they take to make me better at math) for the gov have managed to make inflation, nose-bleed gas prices, sky rocketing food prices and low employment look like a normal day at the office. I mean, come on, personal income was flat line in April and May, consumer confidence was the lowest in 28 years, and the government reports, "personal spending is up in April." Yeah, that's due to the darned soaring prices of food and gas. Hello, is there anyone awake at the wheel at the government? If you don't cook the books, you discover, as Lois has, that in terms of inflation-adjusted personal income--we spent more for less. And, then the government insults us further by telling us, you'll be doing better once you have that one-time tax rebate check. Come on guys, I've heard better lines from hookers on the strip in Vegas....We're not spending more, the prices are rising at a rate that not even the math wizards (on super dope) can keep up with, and the bottom line is--our economy is still saggin' lower than a street kid's pants--not pulled up properly. Again, I hope that these nice fellows invite Lois into their office, so I can really see how the smart people figure out we're spending more greenbacks, when I haven't seen a decent amount of those since dinosaurs roamed the Earth.... Bottom line, according to a Reuters and University of Michigan Survey of Consumers completed recently, consumers are running scared, like a deer in the headlights. And as David Wyss, head economist at Standard's and Poor's rating system (the benchmarker for your company's credit standing, and a city's credit worth) says, "We are not going to see the economy getting better any time soon. We are still in the early stages of the recession."