Let’s start with the old legal adage:

When the law is against you, argue the facts. When the facts are against you, argue the law. When both are against you, attack the plaintiff. - R.Rinkle

Yesterday, we got this from Larry Summers, one of President Obama’s top economic advisors:

Of all the statistics pouring into the White House every day, top economic adviser Larry Summers highlighted one Friday to make his case that the economic free-fall has ended.

The number of people searching for the term “economic depression” on Google is down to normal levels, Summers said.

Searches for the term were up four-fold when the recession deepened in the earlier part of the year, and the recent shift goes to show consumer confidence is higher, Summers told the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Combine the two and you get what I’m going to dub the Summers Corollary:

When the economic data is against you, argue the public opinion polls. When the polls are against you, argue the data. When both are against you, argue Google Trends.

It would be laughable if it weren’t so sad.