Sponsored Content
« The Let a Smile Be Your Body Armor "Strategy" Has a Bodycount of Four | Main | Obama Campaign Calls Major Liberal Bloggers "Tinfoil Hat Crowd" »
October 11, 2012

About Those Awesome!!11! Jobless Claims Numbers

Here's a roundup of the morning's headlines on the jobless claim figures released by BLS today.

CNN: Jobless claims fall to four-year low

CBS: Jobless claims fall to lowest level since '08

Reuters: Jobless claims fall to lowest in four and a half years

Bloomberg: Jobless Claims in U.S. Fall to Four-Year Low

Chicago Tribune: New jobless claims plunge to 4 1/2-year low

And on, and on. Break out the bubbly and the top hats and tails; happy days are here again.

Oh, wait! Those rightwing nutjobs at Faux News noticed something in the details of the report that makes the gold in them thar hills look a little more like iron pyrite.

STRANGE: Jobless Claims Sank to 339,000 in Latest Week, Though Data Didn't Include One Large State

Well now. A large drop when comparing apples and oranges is pretty meaningless, isn't it? So where were all those other guys in noting that the data is bad and the real change from prior ... oh, right.

I'd bet everything I own and then some that those headlines would've been markedly different if, say, a Republican was in the White House.

And anybody notice a missing word up there? What the hell happened to "unexpectedly"? This was so huge a change from the expectations of a 2,000 claim drop that you'd think they'd be blaring this in all the headl ... what? that doesn't help the President? ... oh, right.

Now, I'm not saying that BLS is cooking the books. But is there a reason to release this incomplete data without putting a gigantic asterisk by it to help the meticulously objective lapdog media not leap to the wrong conclusion about it?

Well, I can think of one. And only one.

But don't fret, the correction to those ever-so-helpful headlines will appear on page A26.

Score another victory for Jack Welch.

The Obama campaign and its supporters, including bigwigs like David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, along with several cable TV anchors, would like you to believe that BLS data are handled like the gold in Fort Knox, with gun-carrying guards watching their every move, and highly trained, white-gloved super-agents counting and recounting hourly.

...

Bottom line: To suggest that the input to the BLS data-collection system is precise and bias-free is—well, let's just say, overstated.


digg this
posted by Andy at 12:30 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Duke Lowell : "Oh, thank God. ..."

AlaBAMA: "This thread smells much better. ..."

Theodore: "4th ..."

MAGA_Ken: "I'm out for the night as I have to watch Growling ..."

Robert: "Evening. ..."

Fastly Strokewater: "I kind of planned this.... ..."

Walter Freeman: "Mhmm. ..."

DB - he gets the nod: ">Broccoli is great but you have to manipulate it ..."

Kindltot: "[i]You know what is yummy on banana bread? Nutella ..."

Piper: "612 I was just joking sorry Posted by: REDA ..."

Puddleglum golfin' in Pennsyltucky: "Yikes. I'm out. I'm already sick of the election a ..."

Thesokorus: "I excused his personal failings and serious charac ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64