Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Press Secretary Carney, speaking on the disillusioned jobseekers leaving the workforce, thereby making these rosy unemployment rates much lower than they would otherwise be:
“A large percentage of that is due to younger people getting more education, which in the end is an economic positive,” Carney said. “This increase in the number of people leaving the work force has been a trend and a fact since 2000, because of an aging population, which is not to say this is wholly — that’s not to say that I would wholly disregard as an issue.” Carney had been asked about the 19 million underemployed or unemployed Americans, and about people who had left the work force.
“I think some of those who, I suppose, don’t wish us well politically have tried to make a point about this,” he also said. “The facts are that in these most recent numbers, this is not an issue of people leaving the work force; the numbers are positive across the board.”
My red flag goes up anytime I hear someone on the left say “the facts are.” That usually means what I’m about to hear are not facts, and by “usually,” what I really mean is there haven’t been any exceptions to the rule in a very long time now. Nor have there been any exceptions to this: When you take the time to go and look at the facts, you find out the lefty telling you what “the facts are” must not have wanted you to go doing that…
Between Barack Obama’s election and his first year in office, the [labor participation] rate dropped from 65.8 percent to 64.6 percent. At the end of January, when the BLS was conjuring up its latest jobless number, the labor participation rate dropped to 63.7 percent. That number represents a 30-year low. The raw numbers, however, tell the real story. Since 2008, approximately 8.8 million more people have been classified as “not in the labor force,” including 2.6 million more than one year ago. [emphasis mine]
There is another thing happening here: People getting more education who aren’t so young. It’s a gut-wrenching decision for people to have to make, who consider themselves to be already well-qualified, just for jobs that no longer exist or that can no longer be found. They need to be wondering about things like: Is this going to work? And if it does, for how many years before I’m told, again, I need to get more education before I can find another job. Or maybe I’m getting closer to the day I realize I’ve been employed for the last time.
The educational institution, of course, doesn’t need to wonder about any of that stuff. They just get lots and lots of money…which may end up working out in the student’s interest, or maybe not…but for the teacher it works out pretty well.
The education industry is third in line as far as donations to Barack Obama, following retired & legal.
He’s the low-labor-participation president. Not just a decent campaign slogan…that, Mr. Carney, is a fact.
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How many people are paying attention to the observation that the jobless numbers are entirely about election-year politics, and nothing more?
It’s completely lost on Obama’s acolytes that the unemployment rate is simply a ratio of jobs-filled to the size of the labor force as a whole (defined as adults who are actively seeking work). When people give up on finding work – as millions have – that 2nd number shrinks, thereby artificially inflating the ratio.
This isn’t hard to grasp, but once again our government is being patently dishonest with us, in a phony attempt to claim that their policies are succeeding at putting people back to work.
- cylarz | 02/08/2012 @ 14:27