{"id":30210,"date":"2012-09-11T13:11:01","date_gmt":"2012-09-11T19:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/11\/lies-damn-lies-and-apples-to-oranges-statistics.html"},"modified":"2012-09-11T13:42:09","modified_gmt":"2012-09-11T19:42:09","slug":"lies-damn-lies-and-apples-to-oranges-statistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/11\/lies-damn-lies-and-apples-to-oranges-statistics.html","title":{"rendered":"Lies, Damn Lies, and Apples-to-Oranges Statistics"},"content":{"rendered":"

One can certainly discuss and debate comparisons of unemployment rates between January 2009 (when Obama took office) and today. \u00a0One can discuss at what point Obama's policies can be deemed to have actually been able to any effect, or how rates were actually trending at those two points, or what goes into those rates and how different policies and actions and political squabbles have contributed to same.<\/p>\n

What you can't do — unless you're a liar, an idiot, or Fox News — is compare two completely different numbers as "proof" of anything. Either you compare the Official Unemployment Rate (7.8% vs 8.1%), or you compare a composite rate of unemployed, discouraged unemployed, and underemployed (14.5% vs. 14.7%). You can't pick one from Column A and one from Column B … unless Obama supporters get to say that unemployment has dropped<\/i> from 14.5% to 8.1%.<\/p>\n

Suggesting that Fox producers an \u00a0talking heads had no idea what it was saying, or realized that the numbers were\u00a0completely different in nature, doesn't seem credible.<\/p>\n

As Laura Ingraham said, "Other than Fox News, where are you really seeing those statistics?" Exactly.<\/p>\n

Reshared post from +Media Matters for America<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Their graphics just get worse and worse. Fox used a dishonest comparison to suggest the unemployment rate has nearly doubled since Obama took office.<\/p>\n

Get the Full Story:\u00a0http:\/\/bit.ly\/RDRhRG<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 7.8% figure was the official unemployment\u00a0
rate from January 2009. The current official unemployment rate is 8.1%, not 14.7%. Their 14.7% takes into account those who are actively looking for work, people who are unemployed and discouraged from looking for a new job, part-time workers who prefer full-time employment, and more.<\/p>\n

Comparing the official unemployment rate to conservatives' 'real' unemployment rate is simply a matter of Fox irresponsibly plucking numbers from wherever they can. Again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Google+:<\/strong> View post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One can certainly discuss and debate comparisons of unemployment rates between January 2009 (when Obama took office) and today. \u00a0One can discuss at what point Obama's policies can be deemed to have actually been able to any effect, or how rates were actually trending at those two points, or what goes into those rates and … Continue reading “Lies, Damn Lies, and Apples-to-Oranges Statistics”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,77,99,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-economy","category-elections-2012","category-fourth-estate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22540,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/08\/gop-lying-talking-points-for-the-2012-election-collect-the-whole-set.html","url_meta":{"origin":30210,"position":0},"title":"GOP Lying Talking Points for the 2012 Election (Collect the Whole Set!)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 8-Sep-11 9:23pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This was originally titled \"Mitch McConnell is a Dolt (You Lie! 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Leave the Angles for the Shills - \"... the tragic consequences of the elevation of an unnatural notion of objectivity in which newspapers abandoned any core human values -- even when it comes to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38448,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/08\/12\/ebook-sales-growth-rates-slow-but-why.html","url_meta":{"origin":30210,"position":2},"title":"Ebook sales growth rates slow — but why?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 12-Aug-13 1:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Once you cut through the folks rehashing the E-vs-Print Wars, the answer is ... well, nobody knows.It appears that ebook sales growth rates are only about 5% right now (based on year-ending-Q1-2013). \u00a0This is vs. the previous year when they were growing 28%, and a year before that when it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24594,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/16\/you-mean-the-unemployed-arent-all-lazy-shiftless-bums.html","url_meta":{"origin":30210,"position":3},"title":"You mean the Unemployed aren't all lazy, shiftless bums?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 16-Dec-11 9:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"I mean, if you listen to the GOP field of presidential candidates (not to mention the GOP congressional leadership, the punditry from the Right, and the talking heads at Fox News), all those folks without jobs are living high on the hog, enjoying their oh-so-generous unemployment checks and catching up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23489,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/11\/05\/well-thatll-get-em-back-to-work.html","url_meta":{"origin":30210,"position":4},"title":"Well, that'll get 'em back to work!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 5-Nov-11 6:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I mean, we all know that unemployed people are just lazing around, enjoying life on the public dole, sitting on their butts because of all that wildly generous unemployment they get. 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