Today, we are at time of recession with relative lower demand for goods and services, we are not experiencing an inflationary trend, and we are experiencing a relative higher unemployment rate. In accordance to this background I would like you, readers, to ponder about the economic relevancy of the following BS financial statements of analyst Jacqueline Thorpe of the Financial Post:

• The productivity of U.S. workers jumped unexpectedly in the fourth quarter of 2001, fuelling hopes that the efficiency gains wrought by the 1990s technology boom have survived the recession and will be permanent.
• The U.S. Labor Department said yesterday productivity grew at an annual rate of 3.5% in the fourth quarter as companies cut jobs and hours faster than output declined.
• Analysts said general nervousness about stock markets in the face of Enron and Argentina was the main cause of the Canadian dollar's weakness yesterday, rather than the productivity data.

By the way, if you didn't understand anything about the above BS financial statements you didn't miss anything as these statements are just bubbles cracked by Jacqueline Thorpe.

References

The Biggest BUBBLE of the Free Market: The Myth of the Booming 90ies, by Mario deSantis, January 26, 2002 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2001_500/desantis557/bubblemyth.html

Productivity jump in U.S. beats forecast. Up 3.5% in Q4: Gain offsets a 2.3% rise in hourly compensation, Jacqueline Thorpe, Financial Post, February 7, 2002 http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20020207/1361917.html

"New Economy" Cycle Ends, But Myth Persists, by Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot, November 27, 2001. "Wage growth [between 1991 and 2001] for a typical worker was a paltry 0.5 percent a year" http://www.cepr.net/columns/weisbrot/new_economy_cycle_ends_but_myth_persists.htm