Campus Question – February 4, 2012
Tonight’s question, greetings, and social banter here. (More)
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Yesterday the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported a gain of 243,000 jobs and unemployment falling to 8.3%. As Bloomberg News reported, that was the lowest rate since February 2009 and most economists agreed that “the recovery is for real.” CNBC’s Rick Santelli and Zero Hedge‘s Tyler Durden insisted the BLS had cooked the numbers to hide 1.2 million unemployed people, but bonddad explained that the BLS had adjusted for the 2010 Census. Is “phony economic statistics” the new “phony birth certificate?” |
Today on Campus
Morning Feature – Listening to Latinos, Part III: Culture and Convergence (Non-Cynical Saturday)
When the unemployment figures from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics were bad, Santelli and other right-wing voices took it as gospel. When the BLS unemployment numbers began to turn around, suddenly President Obama is cooking the books. Worse, their explanation of why is – surprise! – based on a statistical change the BLS explained in the same news release they quoted. It turns out the BLS update base population numbers in January, so numbers through the year use the same base for comparison. No cooked books. Just a standard, and standardizing, statistical method.
Well, the birthers just lost in Georgia
so now the right wing has to come up with another way to make things seem worse than they actually are. 
Yes, this is just the usual crap looking for things to be gloomy about. Next up, their stunning evidence that the Sun actually rises in the West, that “magnetic north” is a variable, and “true north” is somewhere else. 
This is just another way to complain. One of the people I called today gave me a lecture on taxes, the deficit and how Obama was driving the country into the ditch so he could declare martial law. It was a spectacular string of statements all strung together in utter nonsense. I thanked the man for sharing his thoughts and told him that clearly we weren’t about to agree but I hoped he had a nice day. He would have gone on for at least a half hour more.
There are unfortunately real people who say these things.
I would reply to this, but there is a tall, black man at the door, and I think he wants my .22!
Oh Gardener, your witty replies are priceless. This guy was such a jerk that I had to politely sign off before I screamed at him. Thanks for making me laugh!