And oh, what numbers they are: 522,000 – the number of people who dropped out completely from the work force just in APRIL.
115,000 – the number of jobs created in the USA in April
8.1% - the resulting Unemployment number, which is misleading as hell because of the above.
Add to that a little trick that I just heard about recently. Every Thursday, they come out with the Unemployment Numbers. But what you might not know, is that they revise those numbers regularly, and they have been revising them UP for a number of weeks. But you don’t hear much about those revised numbers.
Here are some new numbers for you: February, 240,000 revised to 259,000; and March, 120,000 reported revised up to 154,000. I imagine it will take longer to get the real numbers for April. But you get the general idea.
This all seems like a whole bunch of smoke and mirrors from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to me. And it seems like playing with the numbers for political reasons.
Another number: 14.5% – number of Unemployed or Underemployed, according to the BLS. So, I assume it is more, right? Given their propensity for changing the numbers?
But I could just be cynical. Ahem.
You know what’s going to happen, right? Obama is going to be touting how much the Unemployment Numbers have gone DOWN, claiming victory!! Never mind WHY they numbers went down, that as Stuart Varney said, the number of people who dropped out in April alone is the entire population of ALBUQUERQUE. Just think about that. An entire city’s worth of workers dropped out of the workforce. That is unbelievably disconcerting:
Yikes. Clearly, we are not moving in the right direction, no matter how Obama and Co. want to spend this disaster. My heart goes out to all of those who have dropped out. I cannot imagine how they are making it in these difficult times.
Well, for a totally different change of numbers, the odds are in for the fillies runningthe Kentucky Oaks today, at Churchill Downs. And the numbers are in for the boys running tomorrow in the Kentucky Derby. Exciting! You know I had to put something down on the horse, “Rousing Sermon,” even though he is a long shot. I mean really, how could I not? (Photo credit here.)
Anyway, hopefully watching these gorgeous horses run today and tomorrow will take away the sting of this terrible economy, just for a few minutes. Sadly, it seems these kinds of numbers will still be there next week. So, just for today and tomorrow, there is some major beauty to be seen coming your way from Kentucky. Let’s go, Rousing Sermon!
Once he gets that denominator to 0 his problem is solved – full employment!
Have a great time at the races.
Well, that is ONE way of looking at it! I can see Obama taking credit for that…
Oh, I am still in SC – while my younger brother, who could really care less abt horses, has been able to go the Derby a few times thanks to his father-in-law, I have never gone…Someday!
frpm hope and change to doom and blame.
So true…
I think that’s their two-fer game plan, Rev. Continue policies that make finding a job impossible so more people drop out of the labor force bringing down the unemployment rate AND making more people dependent upon the government thus ensuring their vote. In their eyes, the numbers ARE moving in the right direction!
As for the BLS, they are so full of BS. If they have to revise the numbers every week, then either they are a bunch of incompetents or they’re playing the political game…or it’s another two-fer: they are a bunch of incompetents playing the political game (and because they’re incompetent they aren’t playing the game very well or they wouldn’t get caught!).
And here’s to Rousing Sermon! May the long shot win big time!
LOL abt Rousing Sermon – he’s a 50-1 shot, but hey – wouldn’t that be something?
Well, this is ONE way to bring down the Unemployment numbers. I just couldn’t believe it when I heard someone say today that this could help Obama’s re-election. Not if they published the TRUE number, which is closer to 14.5%. But they won’t do that…
No kidding abt the BS – they should change their name!!
Rev. Amy…I have a feeling that horse will do very well today, just because you had faith enough to bet on him…good luck.
LOL – thanks, SSDD. I appreciate the faith! It is a pretty horse, but aren’t they all?
8.1% – the resulting Unemployment number, which is misleading as hell because of the above.
================================
But those who support Ozero, and also couldn’t pass yesterday’s citizenship test if their life depended on it, believe these numbers as though they were gospel. Well, for them it is gospel because Obama said so and he’s the Messiah, so the numbers work.
Someone needs to clue these people in, for God’s sake.
Sadly, I know you are right on this, Ferd. They will buy the “BS” put fort that this is a GOOD thing that over half a million people dropped out of looking for work. I guess they don’t understand that for someone to do that shows despair, not HOPE…
This kind of BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) BS has me speechless. Obama shovels the propaganda, and BS is the only thing that has been “shovel-ready” about Obama’s jobs programs. Why has the unemployment number “dropped” to 8.1%? Simply because workers are magically disappearing from the labor force…..perhaps abducted into another dimension….
“Propaganda unemployment rate: 8.1%; Real unemployment rate: 11.6%”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/real-u-3-unemployment-rate-116
Anything to make Obama look good….It makes me sick!
Thanks for the very pertinent article, Amy.
This is the worst economy I have ever experienced. Heckuva job, Barry.
Obama was touting the decreased Unemployment numbers today. He has no shame.
oowawa, yes! Great comment – the BS is the only “shovel ready” project Obama had. And he is shoveling it for all he is worth…
Thank you, oowawa – I appreciate that!
That’s just it, never do report the real facts or the real information so we can really, solve our problems, or make real informed decisions-damn Them!(shaking fist)
So, I dvr’ed the Kentucky Oaks, and we just started watching it. Then Bob Costas said the Oaks would be delayed, until probably 6:30, which it just abt was. I hurriedly switched the channel, and they had JUST finished it. ARGH!!!!
But the good news is, I bet on the horse that won. Why? She was ridden by the only female jockey in the bunch.
I was going to bet on her in the Derby tomorrow, too, but her horse was scratched (they didn’t feel he had a good enough workout to put in a good run). Anyway, the horse was, “Believe You Can,” and the jockey was Rosie Napravnik. She is the FIRST woman to win the Oaks! Way to go, Rosie!!!
And the horse is owned by the former governor of Kentucky, Bereton C. Jones.
Wow, I guess dinner is on you then. Congratulations all around!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_Napravnik for those inclined to google.
LOL – well, I didn’t bet THAT much. I should have bet for her to win or place. I bet her to show. But it all pales in comparison to the historic day this is for the Oaks, and HER!
Oh that rocks about your bet, the horse, and the woman jockey. I love it. remind me not to play poker with you, however.
Teehee! Suzy is the card shark in this family, though Gina R. would sure give you a run for your money, eh, Gina?!
And Gina, you are SO right – a strong, competent woman who has worked her way up to being one of the top women jockeys in the country does NOT fit the paradigm Obama wants to impose…
Its not a woman, its just a composite woman shaped object there to serve the narrative.
Hmmmm….I remember you & Suzy kickin’ my butt in cards more than once!! You….sweet and innocent until those cards come slamming down on the table and WHAM…you knocking us off our seats. And Suzy…her mind turning and twisting with strategies….that glint in her eyes enough to make the strongest person shiver and shake and wonder what she’s hiding there in her hands. Good times!!!
ROTFLMAO – Suzy said it sounds like somebody wants a rematch!
As I recall, you kicked our butts a few times, too, but what fun it all was. Good times, indeed!
Now, abt that rematch…
LOL..Definitely a rematch! When I come out to visit this fall!! Or next time you two are in San Diego, whichever comes first.
Dang, I better find someone to practice with and brush up on my strategies….
Outstanding, either way (hey, how abt BOTH?!).
Teehee abt practicing your strategies! Too funny!
Congratulations to Rosie and Believe You Can! It’s lucky Rosie won the Oaks now, because if Big O gets another 4 years, she’ll be relegated to the sidelines like the fictional composite Julia. I’m pretty sure being a winning female jockey does NOT fit the vision of helpless-female-saved-by-the-handouts-of-his-hOliness.
Oh Cuz—Rosie is the one you’ve told me about! Hooray! What a great day for her and women, and horsies, too!
(Couldn’t find The Oaks on our tv channels either)
Yes, isn’t that fantastic? She was SOOO happy, though a bit disappointed to not be riding tomorrow.
The Oaks was only on for an HOUR, on NBC SN. Sexist NBC! Anyway, since it was raining so hard there, the 10th race was running at the time the Oaks was supposed to, but they NEVER showed a replay of the whole thing, at least not once we realized it had been delayed. Hmm – I wonder if it’s on Youtube already?
Here is the race:
Oh, thank you! What a race—so exciting!!
So awesome! Thanks for posting this, my cable carrier did not carry it.
My pleasure! It was exciting, wasn’t it? And to have the two frontrunners from beginning to end is really something. Rosie was SO excited, and so excited to have beaten Johnny Velasquez, a great, great jockey…What a race!
What a thrill!
Wow, that was an exciting race. I would say gutsy but Obama ruined that word. Nice work lady jockey and filly!
Funny, the fillies seem to like running and winning just fine. I hate sports coverage, I read one piece a while back that said, basically, that the girl horses like to hang back and eat bon bons and shop at Macy’s while the boy horses like winning. I think was from when that filly won Belmont. Way to project your misogyny across species lines talking head sports reporters.
All the bon bon eating talk struck me funny because I was at a “dude ranch” (great American invention, city slickers v farming) and the old ranch hand said ‘When we scare the herd, they always follow the older females’. Apparently one method of rounding up wild horses is to toss some middle aged domesticated females in for a bit, then scare the lot of them. Some percentage of the entire herd will follow the middle aged females right back to the barn. Seemed clever to me!
There was also coverage during Belmont saying its rude to run fillies in the colt races, because it reduces the stud value of the colts. That may be the actual truth of it and oddly it didnt offend me one little bit. If these races are to show off the blood lines and those work by gender only, OK. Just come out and say that we dont want fast fillies kicking ass over here because we lose millions.
hc, I swear – you have such a way with words! I hear you completely abt the coverage. It is astonishing what people will say abt the fillies.
What a fascinating story abt the middle aged females being used to bring in the wild horses. That is incredible! It makes sense, though, really. The mares rule – I have seen that with the ones who have been at the stable. They are the bosses, no doubt abt it…
Oh, brother abt the stud fees being cheapened. Is that what they thought when Zenyatta lost the Breeder’s Cup by a nose? (And that was more her jockey’s fault than hers – Mike Smith tearfully claimed it was all his fault for not getting her to the outside faster. She had never run on dirt, much less wet dirt, before. She was not used to having mud come flying in her face. She always came from the back of the pack. Even still, she almost won.) Out of 20 races, she lost one, coming in second.
Really, that makes no sense anyway – you have to have FILLIES to birth those foals. I daresay, Zenyatta’s baby will kick some butt on the track one day! (Here is a link to her awards and records: http://www.zenyatta.com/bio).