YOU don't have to feel that little nip in the air to know that the seasonals are changing. Nope, that's not a typo. I'm referring to the seasonal adjustments that the US government and many private organizations, like the Conference Board and the National Association of Realtors, make to their economic statistics. As I've been mentioning since the beginning of this year (yes, it does seem longer), these adjustments were destined to make the economy look more vibrant than it really was during springtime and worse than it probably is now that fall has arrived. And tomorrow it's the Labor Department's chance to make the economic picture even more fuzzy. If I were teaching my class right now I'd kick a garbage can or scrape some chalk on the blackboard (yes, we still have chalk) to get your attention. Here I only have words, so listen up. This is important. Yes, the US economy is in trouble. Not only that, it's BROKEN! The things that decision-makers usually can do to get the economy growing again - like spending excessively - aren't working. Worse, they are causing additional problems - one being the excessive reliance on Chinese financing. And that's causing frantic policymakers in Washington to debate whether economic stimulus needs to be pulled - even though it would ordinarily be much too early for that. But the real problem is in the statistics, which we rely on to measure the economy. They are not only broken, but they are giving us a false sense of what needs to be done to fix the situation. Take the employment and unemployment figures that'll be released Friday. Wall Street is expecting the unemployment rate to rise to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent. And it also anticipates the loss of "just" 180,000 jobs in September, compared with a decline of 216,000 in August. Even though the job market is still deteriorating we are supposed to feel good that the situation is becoming less bad. Less bad! That's the new "good." The trouble is, the Labor Department accomplishes "less bad" through questionable tactics. First, there are seasonal adjustments that are supposed to smooth out the economic humps and valleys that really do occur when the weather changes - for instance, when teachers return to school or when temporary help is hired for a holiday. The problem is, during a recession (not to mention a Great Recession) those adjustments go haywire. Problem 2: The government still insists on adding phantom jobs for small businesses it thinks - but can't prove - are being created. This, despite the fact that a fine story in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week notes that government numbers show a big drop in the number of companies being created.