Not only did Enron and WorldCom cook the books, the Clinton administration substantially exaggerated corporate profits. It was only corrected after the 2000 election. Bob Novak suggests that it might have been a deliberate political ploy; the charge is rebutted by a Wash. Times op-ed and SpinSanity.

This should be a bigger story. I do not find the rebuttals persuasive. They say that Commerce Dept. data do not have much effect on the stock market. I doubt that. The stock market pays very close attention to official govt statistics. There govt statistics made the economy look a whole lot better than it was. Maybe these bad Clinton administration numbers are partially responsible for the bubble and crash, just as phony numbers from Enron and WorldCom contributed to the problem.