Dean Baker: The Economy Loses 824,000 Jobs And The Washington Post Doesn't Notice

The American Prospect:

One of the big pieces of news in the September jobs report released by the Labor Department yesterday was that the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) preliminary benchmark revisions showed that job loss had been 824,000 greater through March of 2009 than had been previously reported. This is a really big deal. It means that job loss averaged almost 70,000 more than originally reported each month over the year from March 2008 to March 2009.

Read the whole story: The American Prospect

Comments

[nexxtep54]

If all economists were laid end to end they wouldn't reach a consensus

[themodernleader]

The American government has become so entangled with Wall Street and banking that government statistics have come to conform with the wishes of corrupt finance. However, the American economic condition has become so desperate that it is difficult to disguise the truth with manipuated data.
It is gratifying that the agency that do the numbers could and would reveal that they were wrong 70,000 lost jobs per month for an entire year. Such a flagrant error demands an explanation. And those who made the error should be asked questions and reprimanded or fired.
There should be an investigative study of the reliability and validity of the data emanating from our public institutions. Many have contended that government statistics can not be relied upon for decision making. This perception should be proven one way or the other and corrections made.
Unreliable working knowledge results in damaging rather than salient and beneficial public policy. However fallacious data can be very beneficial for speculators and plutocratic tyranny.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Meanwhile the media has not noticed Obama has plenty of money for building more Nuclear bombs

Obama Admin Expands Nuclear Weapons Production As the US pressures Iran, the news agency Inter Press Service reports the US is going ahead with a Bush administration program increasing nuclear weapons production. The “Complex Modernization” initiative would expand two existing nuclear sites to produce new bomb parts. The administration is proposing to build new plutonium pits at the Los Alamos lab in New Mexico and expand enriched uranium processing at the Y-12 facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/1/headlines#2

[LeftCoastLarry]

Amy Goodman is great! We need more like her.
Wouldn't it be nice if the corporate mainstream media did as good a job of reporting on issues as she does?
(Rhetorical question - doesn't require an answer - sadly).

[billhodges]

It's time for the American Capitalist Party.

Okay, so maybe the name could be revised or improved (suggestions welcome!), but, folks, there can be no question that the needs of We the People, We the Electorate, We the Target Market are simply not being met by the two main parties.

The Tea Party movement and the powerful uprisings in those health care town halls point to the fact that when it comes right down to it, Americans are all for situational help from the government when the going gets tough, but they don't want it institutionalized for the long haul.

The American Capitalist Party would be built around this fact and upon the ideals and dreams that still propel this nation of ours. Socialism and big government have been tried and shown to have failed again and again, yet neither party --and yes, this means Republicans, too, since they oversaw some of the worst deficit spending of this past decade-- is actively fighting for fiscal responsibility and the maintenance of the kind of market place fair play that made us great.

In marketing, the most important element of a successful brand is its ability to express its core characteristics for everyone to understand. No confusion. No doubt as to what it stands for.

[billhodges]

Neither Democrats nor Republicans have been clear about what they stand for. They are ignoring the needs of so many of us. A good marketer seizes the opportunity to meet currently unmet needs with a targeted product or service. Meeting an urgent need is what the American Capitalist Party can do.

First, the American Capitalist Party tells us all we need to know with its name.-- Capitalism and the conditions that allow capitalism to flourish are what this party will be about.

What are those conditions? A respect for the rule of law; limited government; low taxes (both personal and corporate); effective support of infrastructure to promote economic growth (i.e., no pork projects, thank you very much Boss Tweed); advocate term limits for House and Senate members (12 and 18 years max, respectively) to help break up the enthroned political class; a belief in and support of the freedom and meritocracy that has made America great and given rise to Presidents Reagan, Clinton and Obama; and, finally, very middle-of-the-road social values (for example, we would encourage family values but allow civil unions for gays).

There's a need for a government that knows its place and a political party that reflects what most of us believe. One that helps when help is needed but for the most part stays out of people's lives. The American Capitalist Party. It's time has come.

[Stalling]

You sound really stupid.

[racetoinfinity]

No thanks.

[InofTouch]

so he mention the post at the end of the artical as if he could have place any other News Orginazation...what did they mess-up exactly

[mcmutter]

I can't wait for the Wash Po to go under - they deserve it for their incompetence.

[gakabani]

the WP does not notice it! What about pathetic corrupt Congress?

[kassandrasduplex]

Why would the WaPo care to advertise this? They just got a massive infusion of cash from the Obama Admin. when O renewed and increased funding for the Bush Era No Child Left Behind program. The WaPo owns Kaplan Testing Services and is the greatest beneficiary of NCLB, having skimmed some $2 BILLION out of our classrooms with their testing garbage.

[blimie]

Washington Post is not the only one ignoring that bit of information. Every day people are living it and have been very vocal in their complaints. The media and the President are pretty much ignoring it or downplaying it.

[FreelanceWriter]

Remember Bush Sr. and his now classic "No new taxes line" and how that was held against him? Well congratulations Mr. Obama. You said, "If you pass my $1 TRILLION stimulus bill, unemployment will NOT go above 8%."

Well, considering it's at nearly 10 (officially) and if you actually work in those who are no longer looking or receiving benefits, the REAL number would be closer to 15%. The Left can try to spin this as much as they want, but Obama is now on the hook. In fact, ALL polls show that a clear and overwhelming majority consider this to be OBAMA's economy now and NOT Bush's -- hence his ever falling poll numbers.

Do I blame Bush for a lot of things? Sure. But the Democrats controlled Congress the last 2 years of Bush's time. And now the job slide has continued since election day and January when Obama was sworn in.

The September unemployment figures were back UP and WORSE than the Labor Dept. predicted. So looking at his time in office, Obama is still 0-9 when it comes to fixing things and the American people are no longer accepting the "blame Bush" argument from the Dems any longer. And if you don't believe that, wait till the midterm elections and we'll see just how angry American have become over the economy...

[billhodges]

Very good Post! But try as you might I doubt the progressives will accept responsibility for anything bad. Obama is the The One and can do not wrong in their minds. It is all the rights fault!!

[racetoinfinity]

B.S. I'm a progressive, and I've found plenty of fault with Obama so far, and haven't been shy about saying it, as have many other progressives. Do your research a bit better, billhodges.

[MrGovtCheese]

Obama's record will be judged in the 2010 and 2012 elections-- and that's what really matters, not the 24 hour news cycle. Many on the right started accusing him of being 0-9 before he even took office.

The issue most progressives have with the right is not just that they want Obama to fail, which means the country fails; but also that the right has been actively trying to propagate failure. They've been cheering every setback-- even as it hurts the nation.

Personally, I think most of you anti-Obama folks secretly hope the country goes into a depression.

When you prophesize and cheer on such things, you have a vested interest in being right.

[PhilipTaylor]

"I have a DREAM TODAY" (MLK) that 0BAMA wakes up and suddenly realizes the PA1N and SUFFERING of the People WHO V0TED for him.

Dream: 0BAMA says, "I want HALF of the $23.7 Trillion the FED and Treasury gave Wall Street back to Build a New Main Street High Tech and Green Energy Manufacturing Base so America can begin Re-Building its Export Wealth and create Massive Numbers of NEW Clean JOBS!"

Dream: 0BAMA says, "I will NOT SIGN A BILL that does NOT have Capitalist Competition and a Strong Medicare Choice on an Internet Exchange with Health PLANS sorted by Annual COSTS so EVERY America has CHOICE and Savings from Comparison Shopping!"

If the DREAM is untrue there is a MASSIVE PRICE to PAY for DEMOCRATS, especially BLUE DOGS like C0NRAD, BAUCUS, and L1NC0LN!

[So Calif Indpdnt]

What happened to Obama getting rid of lobbyists? They shouldn't of given any of that 23.7 trillion dollars out to begin with.

[FreelanceWriter]

Obama could never get rid of lobbyists.
After all, then people like Valerie Jarret couldn't work for him!

Well, let's be precise here -- she couldn't work for him initially since she didn't meet the stated Obama standards to begin with. So thank Heaven they actually created an Ethics WAIVER that allowed her to join the White House team.

Mind you, they didn't create an ethics AGREEMENT saying she'd be good, but rather a WAIVER to literally acknowledge "Yeah, you're pretty crooked. But so long as you sign this, we'll look the other way regarding your past transgressions and THEN you can work here."

[ParacelsusTheophrastus]

If you give me health care I will start my own business and someone else can have my job. Win-win.

[Raster]

So the US Government lies outright, baldfacedly, and consistently, especially with the jobs, employment, and unemployment of Main Street America.. We knew that, but it's appropriate to restate it from time to time for the pollyannish among us.

[mogens]

Globalization in itself is not the problem. The problem is the greed and the lack of foresight from the peoples in charge.
The scrapping of the unions is propably the dumbest thing ever done by the middle class and for the employers as well.
In Denmark union membership is about 80%, and nobody wish it othervise.
What has that meant.
In 1973 the average median salary for a full time worker in the USA was for a male 45.000 USD(2007 value) and for a female 35.100 USD. It is the same today.
In Denmark the same numbers in 1973 was 36.000 USD for males and 33.000 USD for females.
In 2007 it was 62.000 USD and 56.600 USD respectively.
It means that while your salaries stood still in 34 years the danish salaries increased 72%.
Denmark is a small country with a foreign trade almost half the GNP. We have no foreign debt, we have less than 30% of GNP in public debt an and unemployment rate of about 4%. For every 100 jobs outsourced we have got about 102 jobs back. Higher educated jobs with a better pay.
We believe that the employers and the employees has common interests in a viable economy. Of course we disagree, but we have more in common than to fight over. But that demands that employers thinks 5-10-20 years ahead instead of 3 months. The extreme focus on shareholder value can kill any firm.

[racetoinfinity]

....and globalization is part of that problem. Free trade agreements without enforcing worker safety, pay, and environmental standards and fair trade tarriffs to protect manufacturing in the U.S.are the framework that have allowed the corporate plutocracy to gut the unions and multiply offshore jobs and factories, and vastly multiply their short term bottom lines and bonuses while screwing the American middle and working classes.

[simpleperson]

The real unemployment rate is more like 16 percent but you will rarely see that reported.