Economists don't know what's going on

Reliability of Economic Data and Statistics

• Multiple comments focus on degraded data quality: budget cuts to agencies (e.g., BLS, Census, ONS), outdated collection methods, and overlong surveys that respondents rush or ignore.
• Declining response rates to labor-force and other surveys in the US, UK, and Canada are seen as a major, under-discussed problem, tied to lower trust in the state.
• Some argue politicians are quietly pressuring statisticians or redefining categories (e.g., “in work” in the UK), undermining trust in official numbers. Others say most agencies aren’t overtly strong‑armed, but internal incentives and fear of leaders can still distort outputs.

Limits of Models and Forecasting

• Several note that complex systems with partial, noisy data are inherently hard to predict; consistent “surprises” since COVID are framed as expected in turbulent times.
• Critics invoke past failures (e.g., post‑2008 austerity) to argue the profession often misreads reality and may be biased toward the interests of those funding them.
• Others counter that central banks and major investors still have good private data and “do know what’s going on” despite headline uncertainty.

Perception vs Aggregates and Distribution

• Strong theme that macro indicators (GDP, CPI, unemployment, stock indices) mask distributional realities: elites vs a marginalized periphery.
• Example tensions: strong markets vs unaffordable housing, rising food costs, precarious jobs, visible infrastructure decay.
• Partisan media shape perceptions of whether the economy is “good,” amplifying mismatches between lived experience and official narratives.

Ideology, Power, and the Idea of “The Economy”

• Long subthread debates whether society is overly subordinated to “the economy” and growth, treating it as a quasi-religion or state ideology (especially free‑market capitalism).
• Others reply that “the economy” is just how we allocate scarce resources and trade skills; it underpins food, housing, medicine, technology, and huge gains in life expectancy and reduced poverty.
• Some distinguish older “political economy” (explicitly moral and political) from today’s technocratic growth metrics, arguing that questions of who benefits are obscured.

Public Attitudes and Coping Strategies

• A few people describe partially “opting out” (minimizing work, consumption, and digital life), but respondents note this still depends on a complex global economy and is feasible only for a privileged minority.
• Overall sentiment ranges from resigned realism (“this is how we get stuff”) to deep skepticism about capture by elites and the adequacy of current economic thinking.