Good explanation. I think it's sad that people find it easier to adopt imaginary theory of why labor statistics are flawed than they are to simply go read their methodology. People don't want to believe that there are BLS statisticians working the phones and knocking on doors. They don't want to know that there are hundreds of USDA employees tasked with writing down the retail price of carrots in every major American city every day. They aren't interested in how Census takers judge the population by counting gas and electric meters. They'd rather believe that bureaucrats are evil and incompetent.
I think it's the rise of authoritarianism: we are losing trust in truth, in what is said, the day to day social trust is dissolving. It worries me an awful lot, but it seems like we're (1) destroying the basis for much of our society and prosperity. All of the social technology we've amassed over the past century and a half seems to be in decline.
1: American English language culture I can read as an insider, and I pay some attention to the UK culture as well. I'm sadly monolingual so I have vague understanding of other countries, but they seem on a broadly similar path.
