Real Deficit Numbers and Real Consequences

We just finished 2009 with a record federal deficit of $1.4 trillion. Let’s think about that for a minute. The U.S. government says it is $1,400 billion in the red at the end of 2009. But is that the “real” deficit number? The reason why I ask is the government uses accounting gimmicks to make just about every number it puts out look better than what it really is. For example, the most recent Consumer Price Index for inflation was officially 2.7%; but if you compute inflation the way Bureau of Labor Statistics did it in 1980, the inflation rate would be 9.7%. The same goes for unemployment. Officially, it stands at 10%; but if computed the way BLS did it prior to 1994, it would come out to 21.9%. (more)