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Thursday, January 12, 2012

FOLLOW-UP: Unemployment, Elections and The Press... Oh My!

Ok, first, let's make this clear: this post is about the unemployment information released today. It is a follow-up to our post on January 6th about the unemployment figures released on that day. On January 6th, we merely questioned whether people (and, of course, the media) should be jumping up and down because of the unemployment figures and today, we still pose the same question of restraint. This information is just one report. It is just one set of figures. It shows a decline in the employment situation in this country, but please do not get excited and trumpet this as a loss for Obama. Let's not get too excited. We certainly are not.

In our January 6th post we said:

     "Who knows? Maybe the unemployment situation is really improving. But with the large influx into Christmas-specific jobs and 50,000 people leaving the workforce, I don't believe we can look at the new unemployment rate and trumpet this as a victory. What do you think?"

Today's news: 

Fox News: http://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/2012/01/12/labor-pains-weekly-jobless-claims-rise-to-6-week-high/?test=latestnews

CNN.com (CNN Money): http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/12/news/economy/unemployment_benefits/index.htm?iid=HP_LN

Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/weekly-jobless-claims-_n_1201473.html
     - This one was NOT on the front page. I had to search for it. I will admit, however, that as we predicted, Huff's headline seems to line up with what we foretold. It reads: "Weekly Jobless Claims Surge As Holiday Workers Are Let Go."

Hmmm, In our January 6th post we said:


From the Fox News report: "Unemployment claims jumped to 399,000 in the first week of 2012, the highest in six weeks, from an upwardly revised 375,000 in the prior week."

So, are we correct? Were we off on January 6th? Is our analysis of this week's unemployment figures off base now? We predicted that the improvement in the unemployment situation in December was due to the employment of highly seasonal (in spite of the fact that the BLS report claims these seasonal employees were "accounted for", we think they were not) workers. We now see they are being laid off and jobless claims are rising. Maybe the BLS needs to change its definition of "accounted for." Think the same MSM outlets that trumpeted December's numbers as an Obama victory will recant? What do you think?

3 comments:

  1. Yup. Just wait until they get worse. I can't wait to see what BHO does and how the press will spin it to make sure he gets reelected.

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  2. Your numbers last week were dead on.

    Although our seasonal employment fell within a different cycle, as a former manager, I know that you don't lay your seasonal workers off until that season is OVER.

    Debbie Wasserman Shultz, in an interview on Fox after the new data was released - those numbers didn't count... employment is on the rise. Really? I sometimes wonder what planet that woman lives on.

    Nevada's unemployment rate is 'officially' 13%. Actual rate, due to people who've stopped looking, is more like 20. We also have one of the country's highest forclosure rates. Up here in the north those numbers are much lower - due to mining.

    That could changes, as the EPA just put out a list of CO2 and other 'dangerous pollutants' emitted by those mines.

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/epas-new-list-lets-you-find-the-largest-greenhouse-gas-emitters-near-you/

    In the north, ALL of the sites are our best employers, located in sparsely populated areas.

    One, still on that map, is a cement factory - that was CLOSED last year, by EPA... 500 workers were displaced. Near Fernley, the company town stands fenced off - a modern day ghost town, compliments of Obama's EPA.

    Luckily, most of those workers found employment in a new mine outside of Battle Mountain. But with EPA on the warpath against that evil CO2 - who knows for how long?

    MUCH if not MOST of our unemployment problem is a DIRECT result of this administration's meddling and its war on private business.

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