Call it jobs-numbers trutherism. And for the sake of historical record, its origin was a tweet from former General Electric CEO Jack Welch.
"Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers," tweeted Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric.
The right-leaning Americans for Limited Government released a statement saying, "Either the Federal Reserve, which has its fingers on the pulse of every element of the economy, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics manufacturing survey report are grievously wrong or the number used to calculate the unemployment rate are wrong, or worse manipulated. Given that these numbers conveniently meet Obama's campaign promises one month before the election, the conclusions are obvious."
Economic journalist Stuart Varney said on Fox News, "There is widespread distrust of this report."
The numbers released just after 8:30 a.m. Friday differed from numbers released for months which offered a predictable pattern: sub-par job growth, an unchanged unemployment rate hovering above 8 percent, and more people dropping out of the labor force.
This report was different. There were upward revisions from July and August, more people started looking for work and the unemployment rate fell to a level matched by the period when President Barack Obama took office.
Conn Carroll, of the Washington Examiner, tweeted, "I don't think BLS cooked numbers. I think a bunch of Dems lied about getting jobs. That would have same effect.
Rick Santelli, the CNBC media personality, yelled, "I told you they'd get it under 8 percent -- they did! You can let America decide how they got there!"
Hilda Solis, the United States secretary of labor, said on CNBC that the notion that the numbers were being manipulated was "ludicrous."
Nevertheless, some groups stuck with the narrative that the economy isn't improving fast enough. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC primarily backed by GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, launched a robocall attacking vulnerable House Democrats over the figures.
"I am calling on behalf of the Congressional Leadership Fund to tell you about the weak new jobs report," reads the script. "With just 114,000 jobs added, it's yet another failure of policies supported by Obama and Kathy Hochul. But we don't need a jobs report to know that these failed economic policies are hurting family's bottom lines. We've been buried in it."
UPDATE: 10:27 a.m. -- Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) joined in on the trutherism Friday on his Facebook page. "I agree with former GE CEO Jack Welch, Chicago style politics is at work here. Somehow by manipulation of data we are all of a sudden below 8 percent unemployment, a month from the Presidential election. This is Orwellian to say the least and representative of Saul Alinsky tactics from the book "Rules for Radicals"- a must read for all who want to know how the left strategize."
He went on, "Trust the Obama administration? Sure, and the spontaneous reaction to a video caused the death of our Ambassador......and pigs fly."
Original Article
Source: huffington post
Author: Luke Johnson
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