Monday, June 08, 2009

Which way is up on Obama unemployment numbers?

U.S. unemployment has reached 9.4 percent, the highest level in 25 years. More than 14 million Americans are out of work. The Obama 'stimulus' package has failed miserably. And yet, the Obama Media is upbeat. What gives?

From a post by Warner Todd Huston at NewsBusters about how The Associated Press cannot report bad economic news without peppering its story with 'Obama-speak' commentary:
There is happy-talk and then there is delusion. The Associated Press has just approached the delusional stage with its recent assessment of what the unemployment numbers mean. Absurdly, the AP seems to imagine that the continued job losses under Obama means that job hunters are experiencing "raising hopes"! It's like sitting on the Titanic pleased that taking on water raises hopes that a nice, relaxing bath is will soon be at hand.

There is happy-talk and then there is delusion. The Associated Press has just approached the delusional stage with its recent assessment of what the unemployment numbers mean. Absurdly, the AP seems to imagine that the continued job losses under Obama means that job hunters are experiencing "raising hopes"! It's like sitting on the Titanic pleased that taking on water raises hopes that a nice, relaxing bath is will soon be at hand.

The first paragraph of the story claims that since last month saw a few less layoffs, why, that is saying that what we have here is "the brightest hope yet that an economic recovery" will take hold later this year. What does the AP offer as proof? Not a whole lot, sadly. In fact, the very next paragraph sort of torpedoes the first. After this "brightest hope" business, the AP gives us this:
But with companies still reluctant to hire, the nation's jobless rate rose to a quarter-century high of 9.4 percent, and it likely will keep rising into 2010, possibly within striking distance of its post-World War II peak of 10.8 percent.
How we can have a "brightest hope yet" for recovery yet still see unemployment continue to rise is anyone's guess, but in the AP's infinite wisdom there you have it.
Read the full post at NewsBusters

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS