How much are the economic numbers being cooked?

[Richardo]

We see report after report that the experts are shocked at the economy's performance in the last quarter. The results in both growth and job creation are DOUBLE what was expected...

So: How much are the TurdBlossoms cooking the books?

[KayLaw]

1. It's hard

I want to believe it but there seems to be so much conflicting information. If only the administration didn't lie so terribly much...

[flamingyouth]

2. Look at all the people we know who are out of work

They can push those numbers all they want, but I don't see it helping anyone get work. Unless they live in India or China, that is.

[nolabels]

10. Looking at the amount of Migrants looking for day jobs on corner

I would say they are full of S**t, but it could be they are getting more efficient with workers south of the border also. I had noticed in years past only a quarter of amount that I see now. Most of them could find work everyday (working under the table, I'm sure)in the till just recently.

[Brotherjohn]

3. Well, according to Paul Krugman...

"Bear in mind also that just increasing the number of jobs isn't good enough. If we want to improve the dismal prospects of job seekers — currently, 75 percent of those who lose jobs still haven't found new jobs when their unemployment benefits run out — the number of jobs must grow faster than the number of people who want to work. Indeed, because the working-age population of the United States is steadily growing, the economy must add about 130,000 jobs each month just to prevent the labor market from deteriorating."

Also:
"...the average rate of job creation during the whole of the Clinton administration was about 225,000 jobs a month. Mr. Clinton presided over the creation of 11 million jobs during each of his two terms."

(http://www.pkarchive.org/column/102403.html)

Now, I realize Mr. Krugman is a Bush critic, but he is also a respected economist and usually backs what he says up with facts. He doesn't simply throw out numbers, he puts them in the proper context. He's right in saying "just increasing the number of jobs isn't enough".

Also, as two economists on NPR this morning said, when you go as low as we have, there's no place to go but up.

It's not so much "cooking the books" as simply throwing out a few numbers and spinning them as positive. The fact of the matter is that job creation will have to accelerate to twice what it is on a good month now, and maintain that throughout the rest of Bush's term, to simply regain the jobs lost during Bush's first term (about 3 million)... and that doesn't even account for the growth of the working age population. As Krugman points out, that would take the creation of about another 5 million jobs.

The numbers are not good. It's all spin.

[otohara]

4. If It Comes From The Bush Administration

it's a big fat lie

[Richardo]

5. The thing that keeps ringing my alarm is the "unexpectedness" of it...

Those over-reaching idiots are certainly capable of putting out wildly inaccurate data just for the splash. And nobody will report the correction/retraction if one is indeed ever issued.

And, going back to their projection-psychosis, that is precisely what they spent 8 years accusing Clinton/Gore of.

[MessiahRp]

6. This about sums it up....

[Richardo]

8. THAT is a great cartoon....sound the nostamj alert!

:thumbsup:

[jpgray]

9. FANTASTIC cartoon!

Thanks for posting it!

[nolabels]

13. I almost picked up a lava lamp yesterday

A comical picture that is worth a thousand words

[jpgray]

7. Likely a little bit, but less than many here think

Yeah sometimes one gets the feel of "chocolate rations up 300%", but the economy can only fail for so long. The obscure sources of these numbers bear looking at, though. It's important to know where they come from and the history of that organization.

[jenm]

11. I voted medium

Business as Usual.

[Beaker]

12. A very telling number that they CANNOT cook-

the number of pages in the Sunday Chicago Tribune Jobs section.
In the go-go 90's, you could count on 3-4 sections thick every week, about80-90 pages of ads. Since the Lil'Dictator was placed on his throne of lies(see:Elf), there has been consistently only one section, with a page count in the low 20's. This week, after all the hullabaloo about the red-hot economy, they checked in with 20 pages- including a couple of full and half-page ads.

[0rganism]

16. No kidding, that's one stat which does not lie

the Portland Oregonian used to have a separate section just for the computer/tech jobs. Now they take up a few columns in a very thin classified section.

my vote? puree' and flambe'

[MoonRiver]

14. I find it telling that the stock market is not reacting with enthusiasm

to these numbers. Large investors know a lot more about what's going on than we peons.

[tritsofme]

15. Higher employment is an inflationary indicator,

this coupled with stocks that are highly overpriced stocks are probably the reasons for the recent down days. I think that there will be probably be a 5% readjustment, and then we'll go up from there.