Jobless Number Shell Game - Well Underway

As I (and whole lot of folks who are smarter than me) predicted last year, the unemployment rate is going down. Figures just released show it at 8.5%. Expect it to be lower than 8.0% percent in the September time frame.

Obama has begun crowing about it, stating that it is great progress, we have turned the corner, we're headed in the right direction.

Just as predicted.

Does this mean the economy is getting better, and jobs are being created? Not exactly. What it does mean is that Obama and his cronies are massaging the numbers to make them fit what they need for re-election.

New jobless claims for LAST WEEK dropped to about 350,000. They have been hovering around 400,000 per week for many months. (This was touted by the Obama Administration and mainstream news as HUGE progress). What this means is that between 700,000 and 800,000 people are filing new claims for unemployment each month - meaning they lost their jobs.

Obama's bunch reports that about 200,000 new jobs were added last month, and that this is responsible for the dip in umployment. What the hell kind of math is that?

700,000 minus 200,000 is a net loss of 500,000 jobs for the month. How can the unemployment rate go down with a half million more people out of work?

Here's how ... Obama's bunch has been changing the definition of what being unemployed means. If you can't change the numbers, you change what numbers are counted.

People who have exhausted their unemployment benefits are no longer counted as unemployed. They are simply dropped out of the equation. Likewise, folks who find temporary employment when looking for a permanent position are not counted. Long term unemployed , those who have given up trying to find a job, aren't counted. Those on welfare aren't counted. Obama has dropped millions of people who are unemployed out of the equation, to make himself look better.

If all classes of people who were counted in the unemployment figures when Obama took office in 2009 were counted today, the unemployment rate that would be reported would be above 11 percent.

If everyone who wanted work and couldn't find it were counted, the true, actual unemployment rate for the US would be above 17 percent.

Unemployment rates for African-Americans, even using Obama techniques, is above 16 percent. Why is this man still a hero to the Black community?

(BTW - that 200,000 figure for added jobs last month included 50,000 temporary Holiday seasonal positions, positions eliminated this month.)

If this is confusing to you, ask yourself this basic question: HOW CAN THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE GO DOWN IF THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO LOSE THEIR JOBS IN A MONTH OUTNUMBER THOSE WHO FIND WORK, BY A MARGIN OF FOUR OR FIVE TO ONE?

Update - The figures for NEW unemployment benefit applications for last week have been announced - 399,000. That'a almost 400 thousand newly unemployed folks. No word from the Obama Administration on how this affects their magic 8.5 percent number ...