Do the numbers prove anything? Apparently it is a question of what you want them to prove. The cliche that "figures lie and liars figure" seems particularly relevant when we examine this Gallup report.
More Jobs, Less Work, Higher Un(der)employment?
Do you need the unemployment numbers to go down so that you can tout how your stimulus has spurred economic growth? Sounds like a sound bite for a State of the Union applause line.
Well it doesn't look like you can get it from Gallup. 8.8% at the end of November, 9.3% in mid-December, and a monthly wrap-up at 9.6%.
How about part-timers who would love a full-time gig? Those numbers for the same intervals are 8.4, 9.2 and 9.4%. No good news there.
Maybe the total package of labor that isn't laboring would be a good number to grab? Whoa! That has risen to a whopping 19%. One in five Americans who would like to be working more than they are currently is not producing. That means they aren't earning, they aren't consuming, they aren't saving or investing, they aren't creating demand.
That's the definition of an unstimulated economy.
Clearly then we have to go to a government generated statistic and a union-funded think tank. Using a non-biased polling agency is way too objective to get the answers you need.
Jobs Added, Growth Slow But Positive
Of course. If you can't trust your government to give you the truth, who can you trust?
1 comment:
At this point, anyone who doesn't *know* the US government is lying to them is just smokin' dope.
But there are what appear to be reliable sources out there. One I like is http://www.politicalmathblog.com/ who posts the occasional item that at least appears to be well-researched and objectively reported.
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