If you're going to lean one way or the other based on government pronouncements, then you're right to treat them as the opposite of the truth.

I have a half-baked reason for this being correct: since statism is out of alignment with reality, true statements will tend to undermine the state.

Undisciplined

econ

The Imaginary "Boom" in the Small-Business Economy

I get that, but then I would have to research what they really mean instead of just making a quick judgment for the opposite case, which so very often turns out to be the true case. It even looks like that may be the case with politicians and projection, when THEY shout “conspiracy theory” and the whole raft of statistics. It just makes life a little bit easier by applying automaticity.