It's really hard to know for sure anymore Cockerel. What I do know if that many commentators & guests on CNBC really question the data coming out of China and other jurisdictions, my view is people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. The quality of the US data, constant revisionist formulas over the years and hedonic adjustements have made it impossible in the US to compare data from the various previous decades. If and when a proper comparison is done it makes today's situation very tenuos at best.