Rewriting history...

I have had a keen interest in economics and finance since around the age of 18 when I first started to dabble in the stock market. Back then, things were pretty simple, interest rates were at historically normal levels and bizarre financial concoctions  such as QE and zero percent interest rates were unheard of.

Over the past 20 years however, I've seen a gradual slip into desperation amongst the policy makers in various countries. Take GDP for example, in order to juice the figures and make GDP seem higher than it actually is, a decision was made some time ago to start including illicit activities such as prostitution and drug dealing to the national count.

Other sectors, such as research and development were added to the mix. Also, if inflation is deliberately understated, this has the same effect as exaggerating the GDP figure. Now I am not sure if this inflation sleight of hand has actually occurred, although I would not be surprised to learn that it has happened. All this in an attempt to paint an economic picture that was getting more and more detached from reality.

I've seen recessions come and go, it's the natural cycle of things so to speak, you have economic expansion followed by contraction. A recession is defined by two consecutive quarters of negative growth. So by redefining what GDP is, a technical recession has been avoided for many years, albeit even if the newly juiced figures have been a partly near zero. Typical GDP quarterly figures have been 0.1%, 0.5% etc hardly the stuff of dreams.

So you can imagine my incredulity when I read this BBC (surprise surprise) article:

So when fiddling the GDP figures can no longer mask a recession, try the next step. Change the definition of what a recession is! It's really sad and disheartening when I see distortions of reality like this take place. I realised quite a few years ago that policy makers would resort to more and more desperate measures to try and portray the economy to be stronger than what it really was.

The same thing is happening within the NHS. Each year, more and more drastic policies are enacted to try and keep the health service above water.

Reading this headline today however really took the biscuit. When you reach the stage of moving the economic goalposts like this, you know we are in deep trouble. Why just not admit that the economy isn't in great shape? Be up front and honest with people, what exactly is it that they have to hide?

Re writing history smacks of desperation. To me, it portends that there are deep rooted problems within our economic structure that is being papered over by our politicians. No wonder then, that public trust of our leaders continues to plummet to new lows.

Let's hope we get some honesty for once, it would go a long way to healing the huge rifts between us and the political class.