Those Pesky Jobs Numbers

It never ceases to amaze me...

Two years ago, these same BLS/jobs stats were being used as fuel for a "failed stimulus" talking point. One year ago, these same stats were being used to claim that things weren't improving fast enough, or (more significantly) that they would have improved FASTER if the stimulus and other measures hadn't been passed in the first place.

Three years ago, the talking point was also that demand-side economics would, inevitably, be an utter failure. One year later, the slowly emerging recovery was called anemic, and CPAC/tea party fools were calling for all stimulative measures to be stopped, again based on these numbers. One year after that, the blame for undeniable positive trends was put on those who had tried to keep the stimulus small; the extension of the Bush tax cuts, or something, ANYTHING other than the stimulus.

Now, the assault is on the stats themselves. Or the methodology. Or the notion that they are intentionally skewed as part of a deliberate disinformation campaign.

I don't have a problem with genuine debates about economics, nor do I have a problem giving both sides credit for successes, especially when there actually is bipartisan compromise which leads to positive results, as there was during the passage of the stimulus in the first place.

But when one very vocal part of one side just moves the goal posts every time their talking points fail, I am obliged to point this out after I finish chuckling to myself.

If the stats were good enough for the Right to use as ammunition before, then they're good enough to use as evidence of a gradual, positive trend now.

And if you think for two seconds that a bad jobs number, such as the one from July last year, won't be hailed by the Right as evidence of a "new recession signal" or some such nonsense, then you truly are a conservative at heart: if the stats are good for Obama, there's something amiss; if they're bad for Obama, suddenly all the math is beyond scrutiny.

It's the anti-climate change playbook with different chapter headings, but the same essential strategy which relies on deliberate disinformation, denial, and intellectual vacuity.