Economics: The Real Numbers
Mushrooms: Kept in the dark and fed shit all the time. These sources describe the shit we've been fed, presumably in the name of "maintaining investor confidence." Some other government and industry sources are linked here, also.
Numbers Racket: Why the Economy is Worse Than We Know: Kevin Phillips, Harper's, May 2008. Should be required reading for every American. Such shameless manipulation is possible only because we don't bother to question what we're told.
Shadow Government Statistics: The basis of Phillips article above, this site is John Williams' re-analysis of what CPI, unemployment, GDP, and other figures really would be if not skewed by intentionally misleading federal policies dating to Reagan, expanded by Clinton, and embraced by Bush. Obama? looks like business as usual. [subscription site, with free images available in upper-right corner]
The Real CPI: Mike (Mish) Shedlock takes on the reports and ShadowStats' recalculation of the Consumer Price Index.
GDP Report is Just Plain Wrong: Chris Martenson takes on the official July 2009 GDP report.
U.S. General Accounting Office's "Management's Discussion and Analysis" (Dec 2008).
Link to publications of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's
Financial Management Service.
The Baltic Dry Index: One of the best leading market indicators. It can't be manipulated by Wall Street or Washington—so of course mainstream financial media rarely mention it.
The "Ghost Fleet of Singapore" is visual evidence of the slowdown in global trade.