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Originally Posted by Cannon Shell
I just dont know what to say. If you know how it works then surely you know what Obama's people are saying about the "jobs saved" or "created" is bunk. The Wall Street Journal is a legit source.
. During a March hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Chairman Max Baucus challenged Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the formula.
"You created a situation where you cannot be wrong," said the Montana Democrat. "If the economy loses two million jobs over the next few years, you can say yes, but it would've lost 5.5 million jobs. If we create a million jobs, you can say, well, it would have lost 2.5 million jobs. You've given yourself complete leverage where you cannot be wrong, because you can take any scenario and make yourself look correct."
I suppose you will say that Baucus is partisan and wrong on the subject too?
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Yes, I'm an expert on how everyone misuses statistics. I've worked in government the past seven years under both Republican and Democrats and both want to spin the same numbers the same way. I know how silly it is and I know how silly the numbers in the Wall Street Journal were. And if you can find an Obama quote where he said we'd never get above 8% unemployment then I'll laugh my ass off at that. But really I don't think he's that dumb to say that. Anyone with a clue knows the economy may be turning now but there is always an unemployment lag after the recession ends so we will hit 11% before this is all said and done. And for anyone who understands how the unemployment statistics works they will understand that it will actually be a positive thing. That may sound weird but the unemployment rate is the percentage of people seeking a job that cannot get one related to the total labor force. So that means anyone who has given up "or discouraged workers" as they are known, will not count in the unemployment rate. So later this year the economy picks up even though we are at 10.5% unemployment all other signs are positive that we are recovering. So guess what happens? All those discouraged workers suddenly start looking for jobs again, now instead of counting as out of the labor force they count as unemployed. So we wind up with the unemployment rate jumping even though the economy is recovering. It is the way it works and is why I'd be shocked if Obama was on record saying the unemployment rate would never get above 8%.