How we check

All our numbers are double-checked: first against official data, then against outside analyses. Here is exactly how.

1. Official sources first

Every figure starts from the agency or body that produces it, with the series, release and date pulled noted on the receipt. Examples:

U.S.: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Census Bureau, Federal Reserve and FRED (St. Louis Fed), U.S. Treasury (including Fiscal Data and the Office of Inspector General), Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
International: International Monetary Fund (IMF), OECD, Eurostat, World Bank, and national statistics offices such as INSEE (France).

If the official numbers are revised, we use the latest release and say which vintage we used.

2. Calibration against outside takes

Next we compare our figure with how others report the same thing. This catches definition mismatches, wrong time periods and plain errors.

Quick posts: 2–3 outside takes.
Articles and deep dives: 4–6 takes, shown in a table.

We deliberately pick takes from different places: another official or international source, analysts and think tanks from across the political spectrum, and the viral version circulating on X.

Example layout of a calibration table (illustrative, no real figures)
Source	Type	Their figure	Why it differs
Our receipt	Official data	…	Baseline
Second official body	Official / international	…	e.g. different definition
Analyst A	Think tank / analyst	…	e.g. different year
Analyst B	Think tank / analyst (other side)	…	e.g. forecast vs actual
Viral post	Social media	…	e.g. outdated or out of context

Layout only; each Article fills in its own sources and figures.

3. Explain or fix big gaps

If our number is far from the others, we don't post until we know why. Either the gap has a clear reason (definitions, dates, nominal vs inflation-adjusted, revisions), which we explain in the post, or we've made a mistake, which we fix before publishing.

4. Corrections

Wrong is wrong. If we get something wrong after posting, we correct it in the open, note what changed and when, and keep the original visible. Read the full corrections policy, or send us a claim if you think we missed something.