Sometimes, Shoot the Messenger

Today is Thursday, 17 October 2012.

On this date in 1945, Juan Peron and Evita are married.
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Early this morning, the financial printer for Google Inc (NASDAQ:  GOOG) prematurely released the company's third-quarter earnings report.  The result was a 9% drop in its stock price, before trading was temporarily halted.

The proximate reason for the decline was the dismay automatically expressed by stock analysts that Google had not met their consensus earnings estimates (analysts - $10.65 per share; actual - $9.03 per share).

In a different context, analysts similarly puff up their chests, harrumph, and take the Administration to the woodshed when actual job growth, total employment, and unemployment claims filed differ from analyst estimates.

Leapin' lizards!  Responsibility and blame lie, not with reality, but with the demonstrated inadequacy of the various methods of analysis.

Sometimes, it's appropriate to blame, and shoot, the messenger.