Friday, Aug 22, 2008
Official government figures losing all credibility
Guardian: Retail spending rises. It's unbelievable, say experts
Retail experts reacted with incredulity yesterday to shopping sales figures that showed a rise in spending, despite all other evidence pointing to a downturn for the sector amid a squeeze on household budgets.
Although official government figures showed yesterday that retail sales were up 0.8% last month, the numbers were greeted with scepticism by the British Retail Consortium, the main trade body for shops and stores in the UK.
It said that the report did not "seem to reflect the current retail reality" and that "few retailers will recognise this positive picture".
It's hard to see what could produce the sales-growth boost the ONS are reporting.
Posted by little professor @ 12:31 AM (514 views) Add Comment
7 Comments
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1. drewster said...
Could be the wet weather sending people into the shops instead of out on the beaches. Maybe people have foregone their annual overseas summer holiday so they are spending the money at home instead. Whatever the reason, 0.8% month-on-month is just statistical noise.
2. Sneaker said...
Hedonics
Imupted incomes
Substitution
These three horsemen mean that current statistics don't compare with old statistics. To get the real picture, you need to compare like with like, which means rescaling the stats. The scale is not what it used to be.
In the old days, 20% inflation was a disaster. Nowadays, 5% inflation is a disaster. So, scale your thoughts equivalently and you will see things as they really are. Smaller numbers, now, mean the same thing as larger numbers, then.
www.shadowstats.com is just one part of the answer
3. whiteknight said...
Could be a pile of shhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite!
4. Materialistc Weasle said...
Could be the result of the BOE being to scared to raise the interest rates !
5. Collywolly said...
There will be no reason to lower interest rates next time round then......
6. Eyes_wide_open said...
Does anyone other than the Labour Party believe anything the Labour Party come out with any more?
7. enuii said...
'It's hard to see what could produce the sales-growth boost the ONS are reporting.'
These may be the symptoms of mass depression within the population as people hit the shops to make themselves feel better, it may be interesting to see if sales of alcoholic beverages and the number of pregnancies are also elevated in the next few months.