(2004-01-09) — Consumer confidence in the predictions of economists plunged to a 25-year low this week after another economic indicator failed to match economists’ expectations.

Reports that only 1,000 new jobs were created last month instead of the 100,000 that had been projected sent the Index of Faith in Economists (IFE) to its lowest level since the Carter administration. The fourth quarter of 2003 brought a steady stream of inaccurate predictions by unnamed economists, who typically underestimated the magnitude of the recovery.

“This latest wrong guess at least demonstrates that economists are not politically biased,” said a spokesman for the American Society of Oft-Quoted Unnamed Economists (ASOQUE). “We’re just plain wrong most of the time. But it’s fun for us to see investors making huge financial decisions based on our predictions, and politicians hacking at each other based on whether an indicator met expectations.”

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