Shadowstats.com
Shadowstats.com is a website that analyzes and offers alternatives to government economic statistics for the United States. Shadowstats primarily focuses on inflation, but also keeps track of the money supply, unemployment and GDP by utilizing methodologies abandoned by previous administrations from the Clinton era to the Great Depression. The site is authored by consulting economist Walter J. Williams, who holds a BA in economics and an MBA from Dartmouth College. He is popularly known as "John Williams." Claims Shadowstats is perhaps best known for its alternative inflation statistics. Williams says that major changes to the Consumer Price Index were made between 1997 and 1999 in an effort to reduce Social Security outlays, using controversial changes by Alan Greenspan that include "hedonic regression", or the increased quality of goods. Some other investors have echoed Williams' views, most prominently Bill Gross, who reportedly called the US CPI an "haute con job". John S. Greenlees and Robert B. McClelland, staff economists at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, wrote a paper to address CPI misconceptions, such as those of Williams. Williams points out that under President Lyndon B. Johnson, the U-3 unemployment rate series was created, which excludes people who stopped looking for