Presidential fibs, large and small, mask nation in decline
The term "cherry-picking" is often applied to the practice of
presidents who use inaccurate, narrowly drawn, fuzzy statistics and
claims to cover up their economic failures.
President Obama did a
lot of it in his fact-challenged, State of the Union address Tuesday
night, in which he made exaggerated claims that do not stand up to
serious scrutiny.
The Washington Post ran a story the next morning
by the capital's chief fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, under this
headline: "Sifting through some questionable claims by the president."
The
Associated Press ran a lengthy fact-checking story, too, with this
editor's note at the bottom: "An occasional look at political claims
that take shortcuts with the facts or don't tell the full story."
The biggest whopper: Mr. Obama's claim that businesses have created "more than 8 million jobs" over the last four years.
"The
president is cherry-picking a number that puts the improvement in the
economy in the best possible light," Mr. Kessler says.
Mr. Obama
chose to use only job figures since February 2010, when the economy
reached its low point in jobs, and that produces a gain of about 8
million. His presidency began in 2009, though, and the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) says that only 3.2 million jobs have been created since
then.
Even this number is about 1.2 million fewer "than when the recession began in December 2007," Mr. Kessler adds.
As
he's done in all of his speeches about the economy, Mr. Obama talked
about a "manufacturing sector that's adding jobs for the first time
since the 1990s."
Granted, there's been a gain of 570,000 jobs
since January 2010. However, the BLS factory data shows "that the number
of manufacturing jobs is still 500,000 lower than when Obama took
office," Mr. Kessler says. It's still 1.7 million jobs lower since the
recession began.
He claimed the budget deficits have been "cut by
more than half." But Mr. Kessler correctly notes "that's not much to
brag about."
What Mr. Obama didn't say was the deficits soared
under his presidency in his first term by more than $1 trillion a year
as a result of lower revenues and massive spending increases that
included his failed $800 billion stimulus bill.
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- This site is the inspiration of a former reporter/photographer for one of New England's largest daily newspapers and for various magazines. The intent is to direct readers to interesting political articles, and we urge you to visit the source sites. Any comments may be noted on site or directed to KarisChaf at gmail.
Friday, January 31, 2014
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