Pollyana Economists Drive Me Nuts

The Blue skies crowd are at it again in today's New York Times.

Newsflash: July consumer expenditures increase 0.2% above June expenditures.
NYT and Department of Commerce conclusion: Oh, happy days are here again.

This is infuriating, since anyone with an IQ over 80 knows that July has 31 days,while June has 30 days. That means,of course, that if spending was level from June to July, anyone but a complete moron would expect to see an increase in total monthly expenditure of about 1/31, or about 3.33%.Come on people,we all eat more in a longer month!

More infuriating, we don't need the Einsteins and Feynmans of this world to tell us that 0.2% is about 3.1% less than 3.3%. That means we are really seeing a 3.1% decrease in how much people are spending. Anybody who sez otherwise is itching for a duel fought to the death with wet noodles. These hair brained Pollyannas in the Government and media drive me nuts. I feel like I am on a ship in a storm, and the captain's last name is Hazelwood,or worse, a committe named Hezelwood.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.