A brief lesson in statistics
This is what Fox News showed:
See how glancing at that chart could lead you to believe that unemployment in November is higher than the 8.8% in March despite actually being less? Maybe this makes it more clear:
The sad thing is, software doesn’t do that automatically. The people at Fox News had to do that on purpose. It wasn’t an innocent mistake, it was deliberate deceit. Perhaps this illustrates better how slimy and dishonest it was:
Credit to Media Matters.
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Love.
Comment by littleraskills | December 13, 2011 |
A simple explanation is that someone screwed up….Kinda like saying Navy SEALS killed Obama….
Comment by Jeff | December 13, 2011 |
Better explanation… the statistics from November hadn’t been fully put into the graph yet, so the dot displaying location wasn’t updated and so kept the same position as the month prior….. shocking … I know.
Comment by Chris | December 13, 2011 |
The value was obviously entered. Either they predicted what it would be and extended the line or they falsified the position of the line afterwards. Either way, they purposely were dishonest. This is nothing new for Faux News.
Comment by Blah | December 13, 2011 |
The point is,the unemployment rate is still high and has been for the entirety of Obama’s reign. He doesn’t understand the way the economy works and it shows. And he can’t blame it on Bush any more because he has been Pres. for 3 years. At some point he has to take responsibility.
Comment by Lori | December 19, 2011 |
Really Lori? Still going down this route? When Bush left office, the unemployment rate was the highest in fifteen years and rising rapidly. We were in two pointless wars and the economy was in shambles. Yet you still think Bush was a great president.
The fact is, Congress has shut down Obama at every turn. Despite the largest difference between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of the population in 70 years, the Republicans refuse to repeal the tax cuts for the wealthy that Bush put in place. Is there any wonder that 84% of people disapprove of Congress right now?
It’s rather silly to blame Obama and praise Bush when the country got in this mess under Bush. It’s also rather silly for a “news” organization to repeatedly lie and mislead its viewers in order to justify its political stance.
Comment by sheaf | December 19, 2011 |
Congress was Democratically controlled for 2 years and still Obama was not able to turn things around. Tells me Demos don’t have a clue either on how to get this economy back on it’s feet. I never said Bush was a “great” president. But I wasn’t as scared for the country under his administration as I am under the current one.
(And this has nothing to do with anything Glenn has said, since I haven’t listened to him since he went off the air.) I’m not stupid, I can see where this country is. If Obama was that great of a president, he would have pulled us out of the mess we are in by now. When will he take responsibility for his part in all this???
Comment by Lori | December 19, 2011 |
Lori, it wasn’t strictly controlled by Dems because of independents and some Dems that sided against Obama. Again, it’s quite hypocritical to say, “Sure, my president got us in this mess, but he’s better than yours because yours hasn’t gotten us out of it yet!”
The GOP’s entire focus since Obama took over was to make his presidency fail. One of them already stated that was their number one goal, apparently more important than fixing the country. So of course he’s going to have a hard time passing laws and making changes when they want him to fail and don’t want him to fix the economy.
I’m genuinely curious: Do you support Bush’s and the GOP’s tax cuts for the super wealthy? Do you agree with the principle of giving the super wealthy more tax cuts than everyone else despite the huge wealth and income gap? That’s what the Republican party has been doing for the past decade.
Comment by sheaf | December 19, 2011 |
No I do not support a tax cut for the super wealthy, per se. But they are already taxed more than us. And they pay the bulk of taxes already. When 49% of the population pay NO taxes at all, it’s disingenuious to say that the super wealthy should pay MORE ,because they have the money. When everyone is paying their fair share, then we can talk about the wealthy paying more. And even if all the wealthy paid 90% of their income in taxes, it would only be a drop in the bucket towards paying off the 14 TRILLION dollar debt that Obama has added to the national debt.
Comment by Lori | December 20, 2011 |
“When everyone is paying their fare share..” So you’re proposing that, with the income gap this huge and the unemployment rate this large, the poor and lower middle class should pay more taxes?
What we have is a system that is clearly broken. Between 1979 and 2007, the incomes of the top 1% of Americans grew by 275%. Meanwhile, the average pre-tax income of the lower 90% of wage earners decreased. From 1992-2007 the top 400 income earners in the U.S. saw their income increase 392% and their average tax rate reduced by 37%. How could anyone objectively say that isn’t wrong? The taxes on the super-wealthy have decreased as their income increased while 90% of the country is making less money.
Bush gave tax cuts to almost everyone, but gave greater tax cuts to the super wealthy. Why? And why did the Republicans fight so vehemently a couple years ago to extend those wealth cuts to the super wealthy?
Lori, you keep avoiding my other questions. Here are the ones I would love to get answers for:
1 – Is it okay for a mainstream media outlet like Fox News to purposely lie and deceive its viewers?
2 – Why are you blaming Obama for the crisis we’re in, but not Bush?
Comment by sheaf | December 20, 2011 |
Oh, so the mainsteam media like NBC, CBS and ABC, not to mention CNN and MSNBC always tell us the unbiased truth? That they don’t have an agenda and always tell us both sides of the story? I think they purposely lie and deceive their viewers. They have given Obama a pass from day one. He was not fully vetted by the media as most presidential candidates are because the mainstream media was so in love with the fact that he was our first Afro-american Pres. and he was going to fundamentally change America as a progressive. The mainsteam media LOVES Obama; they would never tell us the truth about him. The mainstream media in this country is liberal. I do not trust them to give me the full story or even the most truthful story. You think Fox news is a crock, well, I think the mainsteam media is a crock. Because we get our news from very divergent sources we will never agree.
I blame Obama for the mess we are in because he promised that he would “fundamentally change America” and he has. Only his change has not been for the better. We are farther in debt, unemployment is still high, we have class warfare now between the rich and poor, and everyone hates the rich and thinks they should give all their money to the poor and middle class because it’s not fair that they are rich. He’s a lot like Jimmy Carter: an ineffectual leader who is in over his head and doesn’t have a clue about what makes this country great. He has never run a business, never held a job, and was a largely unnoticed and unknown Senator. I think the only reason he ever got elected was because he was a well spoken black man, who can give a good speech (provided he has his teleprompter) who has very rich and powerful friends. He had never accomplished anything before being elected Pres. It’s kinda like a large national corp. taking a entry level employee and making him the Pres and CEO of the company after only two years on the job. Who does that??? Yet that’s what some of the electrate of this country did. We were so “excited” to finally have a black Pres. that we (well, not me since I didn’t vote for him) failed to notice that he did not have the proper credentials for the job.
I blame Obama because if he was truly the great leader he wants us all to believe he is, he would know how to get the country back on track politically, economically, internationally and domestically. Other Pres have done so in 3 years or less. Harding was one and so was Reagan. It can be done, but it needs to be the right man for the job who knows how things work here, can get people to work together and is willing to get government out of the way and let those who understand how business and the economy work go to work. Obama, sadly doesn’t seem to have a clue.
And by the way, I’m not saying the poor and middle class should pay more taxes, I’m saying they should pay their fair share. The super wealthy makes 19% of the money in this country yet they pay 38% of the taxes. 49% pay NO (zero, zilch, nada) taxes. And the reason most of that 49% don’t pay taxes is because they don’t make enough money to pay taxes because they are unemployed which is due in large part to Obama’s stupidity about the way the economy works. The best thing he could do is get out of the way (meaning reduce the amount of regulations and get rid of ObamaCare) Businesses cannot function in an atmosphere of uncertainity and they certainly don’t hire in one.
So, answer a question for me: Do you really still believe that Obama is the great leader you thought he would be when you voted for him? Do you truly believe the reason he is not doing well and has a lower than 45% approval rating is because the GOP party is out to get him?
Comment by Lori | December 21, 2011 |
“Oh, so the mainsteam media like NBC, CBS and ABC, not to mention CNN and MSNBC always tell us the unbiased truth?” Of course not. They are certainly biased and they certainly have opinions. But they also don’t frequently lie and mislead their viewers on purpose. There is a big difference.
“Only his change has not been for the better. We are farther in debt, unemployment is still high…” Proportionally, that was far worse under Bush. So again, why blame Obama and not Bush?
“And by the way, I’m not saying the poor and middle class should pay more taxes, I’m saying they should pay their fair share.” But you’re implying they don’t pay their fare share now. So you would increase their taxes until they do pay what you deem to be their “fair share”?
“And the reason most of that 49% don’t pay taxes is because they don’t make enough money to pay taxes because they are unemployed…” You do realize that the employment rate, which is clearly available in this very post, is vastly different than 49% right? Your statement is rather silly.
I’m mad at Obama over certain things, sure. He’s not perfect; no politician is. Am I grateful that he’s there instead of McCain? Yes!
Do I think a significant part of the reason the economy is still in the same Bush-era shambles is because of the GOP? Absolutely! Did you see what happened this week? The Senate came to a nearly unanimous decision about a payroll tax cut extension. It was heralded as a compromise with both Democrats and Republicans supporting it. Boehner initially supported it. Then as soon as it hit the House, where the Republicans have a majority, it stalled out. They turned about-face and are holding it ransom. Read about it. How is that Obama’s fault that every time there is an initiative to try and mend things, the Republicans pull this kind of crap?’
Oh, and since you brought up Reagan….
Why lower taxes for rich people does nothing to create jobs.
Comment by sheaf | December 21, 2011 |
Let me break down the problem here, as I see it. I’m perfectly fine with your criticizing Obama, Lori (as long as it is at least partially deserved). But Bush and the Republicans really screwed up the economy, foreign relations, financial regulations, and a host of other things. The fact that people still voted for McCain in droves a few years ago sent the GOP a loud and clear message: We don’t care how badly you screw up, we’ll still vote for you. Because let’s be honest, McCain was a lackluster candidate.
My guess is that you vote Republican nearly every single time, regardless of their performance, policies, scandals, or actions. That’s giving them undue power with no accountability.
I’m not a Republican or a Democrat. While I dislike some of Ron Paul’s policies, I also really love some of his other policies. So if Ron Paul won the Republican nomination, I would seriously consider voting for him over Obama. That’s how democracy should work. More accountability, less blind loyalty to a political party.
Comment by sheaf | December 22, 2011 |
I’m glad what happened this week in the Congress. 2 month extension for the payroll tax cut? What business can plan anything if they have 2 month increments for things like whether or not there will be a payroll tax cut. Why not do it for a year? Because the GOP put the Keystone pipeline in it which will add 20k jobs, get us off our dependence on foreign oil and keep the oil in our country and not going to China. All things our Pres should be doing for the benefit of this country. But, NO, he is beholden to the environmentalists and big labor and decides to “think about it” until 2013. It’ll be too late then. He says he wants to create jobs, and then when an opportunity like this comes along, he has to “think about it”.?
I will never, EVER vote for Barack HUSSAIN Obama. And I will vote with enthusiasm for ANYONE who runs against him.
Another question: Do you think the country will be better off in 4 years if Obama is elected again? After everything we are going through now with the economy, foreign relations, unemployment, etc. do you seriously think it is going to get better-back to where we were before it all began to crumble? Will you be better off?
Comment by Lori | December 22, 2011 |
“I will never, EVER vote for Barack HUSSAIN Obama. And I will vote with enthusiasm for ANYONE who runs against him.”
That right there pretty much sums up why we can’t have an intelligent discussion about this. Not only are you making a ridiculously extreme blanket statement, but in all your wisdom and maturity have decided to go out of your way to emphasize his middle name as if it has some bearing on his character or his ability to lead. If only he had enough moral fiber the day he was born to tell his parents that many years in the future a ruthless dictator of Iraq would have a similar name!
All those years of listening to Glenn Beck’s fear-mongering have really had their effect on you.
Comment by sheaf | December 23, 2011 |
Dang it, I got sucked in again! I keep telling myself not to go head to head with you on political matters and then you post something that I just can’t agree with and I dive back in. Silly me! The old adage that the two things people should never discuss unless they are already in agreement is religion and politics is true. Obviously we are not in agreement and probably never will be. SO, here is my pledge: I will NEVER discuss anything of a political nature with you again. PERIOD. End of story. Merry Christmas.!
Comment by Lori | December 23, 2011 |