Yesterday the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revised its 2Q08 GDP growth to an annualized rate of 3.3%, up from 2.7%. It’s a shame this data had to be revealed on August 28, a date not associated with humorous pranks; had it come out on April 1st investors would have a much better clue that the BEA is joking. There are several problems with the BEA’s data. But the most glaring of them pertains to its inflationary measures. According to the BEA, the GPD price index—its primary measure of inflation—was 1.2% for 2Q08. I’ve thought long and hard about what demographic possibly experiences inflation of 1.2%. The closest group I could come up with was the Amish—who don’t use electricity or drive cars and therefore are immune to energy prices—though their status as “food consumers” hurt even this hypothesis—food is second only ...