Thursday, December 01, 2011

Jobs Hokum

THIS IS A GUEST POST BY READER MORGAN


As if the old Obama job metrics weren’t laughable enough, the administration added a new one, "jobs supported".  The White House explains it this way
The American Jobs Act Will Support Nearly 400,000 Education Jobs--Preventing Layoffs and Allowing Thousands More to Be Hired or Rehired: The President’s plan will more than offset projected layoffs, providing support for nearly 400,000 education jobs--enough for states to avoid harmful layoffs and rehire tens of thousands of teachers who lost their jobs over the past three years.
If you don’t think about it, or if you’re a leftist ideologue, it makes sense.  On the other hand, Chuck Blahous thinks the numbers are illogical and irrelevant:
[E]ven if numbers of "jobs at risk" were correct, this would tell us nothing about the desirability of the Administration’s proposed policy response. The figures presented effectively describe a set of assumptions about state budgets; they carry no hard information about the efficacy of the AJA.
Things are obviously getting desperate at the White House.  They've already invented job metrics that, at best, are silly and unsupported:
Current Obama Job Metrics

Jobs we'd have if it wasn't for Bush

Jobs saved or created

Jobs supported
The mind boggles at what may be next in Obama's jobs lexicon if unemployment gets even worse:
Theoretical New Obama Job Metrics

Jobs we'd have if everybody would just listened to me.  I went to Harvard. 

Average number of jobs created per state, multiplied by 57

Jobs we Hope™ to have

Jobs Joe Biden thinks we have

Jobs we’d have if green jobs count double

Jobs we’d have cleaning up after OWS if it spread to every city, town and village

Jobs we’d have if minority jobs counted triple.  (Asians excluded)

Jobs we’d have if college tuition were free and everybody quit their jobs to go to  back to school

Manufacturing jobs we’d have if every household earning more than $250,000 had to buy a Chevy Volt.

Jobs we'd have if all the millionaires and billionaires dropped dead and we had to bury them

Green jobs we’d have if all able bodied citizens were mandated to run to work wearing propeller beanies that charged molten-salt batteries in their fanny packs.

Jobs we’d have tending herds of unicorns if global warming hadn’t brutally murdered them

Jobs than can dance on the head of a pin

Jobs are a capitalist plot against humanity

Peek-a-boo ... look at my shiny car keys.
(via Hot Air)

11 comments:

Bob Cosmos said...

Now we can see that from the start, Obama has tried to redefine our culture to his image. He'll be satisfied only when everyone is fully employed ... in the Obama administration.

Anonymous said...

From National Review Online:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/284715/jobs-report-kevin-hassett

On the Jobs Report
December 2, 2011 9:33 A.M.
By Kevin A. Hassett

The jobs report suggests that the labor market continues to inch forward. The number of jobs created was 120,000, which is a bit below the market chatter, and well below what we normally see in a recovery. Hopes for a better number started to lift given other recent data.

A couple of things jump out of the tables First, the unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent. This looks like terrific news, but it is not, since a key driving force for the lower unemployment rate was a big drop in the labor force. The decline to 8.6 percent will likely be the headline, and it will be a nice test of liberal media bias, as one might expect many to cover the report as confirmation that Obama’s policies have saved us all from oblivion. Keep your eyes on the coverage, and see if it is as measured as the numbers suggest it should be.

The second thing that jumps out is that unemployment dropped a lot for men, and for whites, but not for women, teens, blacks and hispanics. If this dynamic continues, then we might see a pattern with an interesting political implication next year. As the recovery ramps up, it might be that middle class white men are the largest beneficiaries, making them the subgroup most likely to move toward Obama as the economy improves. That might call into question a strategy that writes off this segment of the electorate.

— Kevin A. Hassett is director of economic-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

OBloodyHell said...

>> Theoretical New Obama Job Metrics

Ahh, but think about all those jobs we could have if libtards didn't have their heads up their .... you know.

THAT is a metric worthy of tracking.

OBloodyHell said...

Hey, you missed one:

Jobs in those other 7 states not recognized by the Federal government.

Anonymous said...

Real Unemployment 11 Percent; Total Unemployment 15.6 Percent

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2011/12/03/real_unemployment_11_percent;_total_unemployment_156_percent

Anonymous said...

Mike Shedlock: Despite What You've Heard, Unemployment Rate Rising not Falling

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2011/12/04/despite_what_youve_heard,_unemployment_rate_rising_not_falling

Anonymous said...

Obama Now Blames The Internet For Job Losses

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/12/06/obama_now_blames_the_internet_for_job_losses.html

Morgan said...

DNC Chair: Unemployment Didn’t Go Up Under Obama

Warren said...

AP Item on 'Summer Jobs Initiative' Omits That Most of 180,000 'Opportunities' Are Unpaid

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2012/01/05/ap-item-summer-jobs-initiative-omits-how-110000-180000-opportunities-are#ixzz1icinRkpE

Morgan said...

"Good news: Pretty much everything counts as a 'green job' now"
Issa suggested the administration is reclassifying such jobs to prove that billions of taxpayer dollars, through the federal stimulus program, have created green, or environmentally-focused jobs — a major initiative for President Obama…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics states a green job is either: a business that produces goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources, or a job in which a worker’s duties involve making their establishment’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources…

Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor of RealClearMarkets.com, said the administration should be focused on simply creating jobs, not classifying them...

Morgan said...

Good news: Pretty much everything counts as a “green job” now

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/06/06/good-news-pretty-much-everything-counts-as-a-green-job-now/