Recent rosy crop of economic stats -- I don't trust 'em!

Well, I used to think that the release and calculation of economic statistics was off limits to political interference, but with this administration, I doubt it.  How Rove could fudge the numbers - talk amongst yourselves...

Forget about the recent GDP number that seems to be the GOP's holy grail these days.  As I wrote in a thread when this stat first came out last week:

If I max out my credit cards and buy a fancy new car and designer clothes, won't I be perceived as being richer than I really am?  Isn't this the same thing that happens when the government goes into such debt?  So we go into debt to give money back to people in the form of tax cuts and they spend it.  So what, you are not creating wealth, it's just a transfer of wealth based on massive debt that eventually has to be repaid.

And with respect to productivity, I don't see how it means anything in the absence of better employment numbers.  People who work in companies that have either had layoffs or just have been on a hiring freeze because of the economy are doing the job of 1.5 people -- of course they're more productive.

Don't get me wrong though, I am NOT wishing for a bad economy. It's just that the recent stats have all been "much higher than economists expected."  You've gotta ask yourself why weren't they expecting it?