European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet has criticized the new Estonian statistics law, saying the Ministry of Finance will have too much a hand in manipulating statistics. The law in its current form would allow for interference Trichet claims. Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi says the bill is in line with the Eurostat directive and should not be changed "on the whim of some frog banker with a well-cut suit."The new statistical rules: All good numbers will be rounded up. Bad numbers shall be rounded down. Really bad numbers shall be explained by insufficient sample size or omitted from reports altogether and/or blamed on Russian cyberhackers. Especially good numbers shall be printed in a type size larger than 18, while bad numbers should always be printed in type size 8 and located only in document appendices. If statistics are particularly unfavorable on a repetitive basis, such as in Latvia or sub-Saharan Africa, new statistics may be made up.
J'accuse! Jean-Claude Trichet, above, is taller and better dressed than Jürgen Ligi.
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