The Government Accountability Office (GAO) [sic] has released a report to Congress calling for the consideration of a new system of key national indicators covering economic, social, environmental and cultural areas. Here is the report, which calls for planners to have access to only the best quality data.
GAO envisions an independent, web-based comprehensive key national indicator system with the nation’s best quality data that would allow the public, the media, policymakers, government, and non-government institutions to better understand and assess the position and progress of the United States, both on an absolute basis as well as compared to other nations. Such a system would cover traditional areas of American life and public debate such as the economy, society and culture, and the environment. It would eventually include information on more complex topics such as socio-economic mobility, opportunity, competitiveness, equity, or sustainability.
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Sounds ghastly. The published economic indicators are already thoroughly biased, according to some (see GDP, CPI, deficit and general criticisms).
Imagine how politicized and biased “official” government statistics will be for squishy and subjective topics such as “culture” and “equity”.
That’s exactly what I thought when I saw the list of topics. You know for sure that conditions are going bad when the government wants to introduce new statistics.
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