# Economic Indicators Hub Map of the `/Subjects/Economics/Economic Indicators/` folder (built 2026-06-07; schema: `type: indicator`). Every page answers two questions: what does this number actually measure, and how does it get weaponized? The cross-cutting technique inventory lives at [[Indicator Cherry-Picking]]; the live institutional story is [[BLS Data Integrity Crisis]]. > [!info] Current readings > For the current state of the economy, with every number dated and sourced, start at [[State of the US Economy]]. Indicator pages carrying a `## Latest reading` section are refreshed monthly after the CPI release. For the global picture, see [[Global Economy Hub]]. **Recession and stagflation:** [[Recession]] (what counts and who decides) · [[Stagflation]] (the 1970s template and the 2026 debate) ## Inflation - [[Consumer Price Index]] — the headline; the most politically weaponized statistic in America - [[Personal Consumption Expenditures]] — the Fed's actual target; the measure-switching counterpart - [[Producer Price Index]] — upstream pipeline; where tariff pass-through shows first - [[Inflation Expectations]] — the self-fulfilling layer; wildly partisan-polarized - [[Gas Prices]] — the visceral indicator at the pump - Egg Prices — the visceral indicator in the grocery aisle; cleanest attribution-flip case study ## Labor - [[Unemployment Rate]] — U-3, the household-survey headline - [[Nonfarm Payrolls]] — the jobs report; the series whose weak print triggered the McEntarfer firing - [[U-6 Unemployment]] — the "real unemployment rate" two-step - [[Labor Force Participation Rate]] — who's counted at all - [[JOLTS]] — openings, quits, churn - [[Initial Jobless Claims]] — the weekly pulse - [[Real Wages]] — paychecks vs. prices - [[Wage Growth vs Productivity]] — the long-run divergence ## Growth & output - [[GDP]] — the master scoreboard - GDPNow — the nowcast that got narrativized - Retail Sales — the consumer pulse - Industrial Production — the manufacturing-renaissance scoreboard - ISM Purchasing Managers Index — the 50-line - Personal Savings Rate — the household cushion ## Monetary & Fed - [[Federal Funds Rate]] — the decided (not measured) indicator; center of the independence fight - M2 Money Supply — "money printer go brrr" - Beige Book — the qualitative counterpoint ## Housing - [[Housing Affordability]] — the composite squeeze - Housing Starts — the supply side - Case-Shiller Index — prices - [[Mortgage Rates]] — the transmission mechanism ## Markets - [[Stock Market Indices]] — the market-as-scoreboard pathology - VIX — what elite money actually fears ## Sentiment - [[Consumer Sentiment Index]] — Michigan; the vibes economy and the partisan perception gap - [[Consumer Confidence Index]] — Conference Board ## Inequality & distribution - Median Household Income — the typical family's scoreboard - [[Gini Coefficient]] — the distribution - [[Poverty Rate]] — the floor - [[Trade Deficit]] — the tariff-policy scoreboard - [[Federal Deficit and National Debt]] — the fiscal twins ## Composite & meta (indicators about indicators) - [[Misery Index]] — inflation + unemployment, pre-packaged narrative - [[Sahm Rule]] — the recession trigger its author fought - [[Yield Curve Inversion]] — the broken perfect record - [[NBER Recession Dating]] — who gets to say "recession" - Leading Economic Index — the composite that cried wolf - ShadowStats — indicator denialism, reference case - Big Mac Index — the honest simplification ## The institutional layer - [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]] · [[Bureau of Economic Analysis]] · [[Census Bureau]] · [[Energy Information Administration]] · [[Federal Reserve]] — the producers - [[BLS Data Integrity Crisis]] — the assault on the producers (2025–) - [[Erika McEntarfer]] · [[E.J. Antoni]] · [[Brett Matsumoto]] — the BLS personnel arc - [[Jerome Powell]] · [[Kevin Warsh]] — the Fed handover - [[Indicator Cherry-Picking]] — the technique inventory ## Structured views Sortable/filterable views by domain, publisher, frequency, and politicization rating: `Economic Indicators.base` (this folder).