Decoding State-Run Media Propaganda on the Economy

RUSH: This is from Gallup. Somebody in the Drive-By Media is not doing their job. And they’re really trying, by the way. Folks, we have unemployment news today. It’s unexpectedly high. Claims for new unemployment assistance, unexpectedly, way, way up. And so if you read the story from State-Controlled AP you find out it was the snow. Really? So we looked at the Labor Department’s report. The Labor Department is the official agency announcing unemployment numbers. So we read it. We scoured it. The Labor Department doesn’t say anything about snow in their report. People get fired when it snows, people can’t get to work when it snows. I guess the way they have to do this is if you have a job but you can’t get there you are counted as unemployed that day as far as the AP steno pool is concerned. The only thing I don’t know is if they call the White House first and get clearance to run this story. But the Labor Department makes no mention of snow. So AP just put it in there. We’ve got that.

I’ve got contradictory stories: ‘The economy, it’s on afterburners, really racing.’ Next story: ‘No. No, it’s not. The reverse thrusters are on, the economy is slowing down.’ And then here from Gallup: survey finds more Americans approve of Republicans than disapprove of ’em for the first time since 2005, after Tucson, after the State of the Union. Well, I don’t know after the State of the Union, but certainly after Tucson, after the first two years of the regime. The numbers are 47-43. ‘Americans’ opinions of the Republican Party have improved to the point where now more have a favorable than unfavorable opinion of the party. The last time more Americans viewed the GOP more positively than negatively was in 2005. These results are based on a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Jan. 14-16.’ From the Weekly Standard blog by Jeffrey Anderson: ‘The January Kaiser Health tracking poll, conducted jointly with the Harvard School of Public Health, now shows Obamacare to be less popular than at any time since its passage.’

Now, put those two things together. Republican Party more favorable than unfavorable for the first time since 2005, and ‘For the first time since Obamacare became law, Kaiser now shows 50 percent of respondents holding an ‘unfavorable’ opinion of it (up from a previous high of 45 percent in this poll), with only 41 percent holding a ‘favorable’ opinion of it. The Kaiser Health tracking poll has always been an outlier poll, showing unusually favorable results for Obamacare. Previously, the largest margin of opposition in this poll was just 3 points.’ But a nine-point jump in opposition seems like a bit more than an uptick, almost a ten-point margin. Doesn’t seem all that roughly divided. ‘Kaiser/Harvard’s political leanings are evident in its write up, as a shift from 41 percent opposition last month to 50 percent opposition this month is described as an ‘uptick.” Almost ten points. It’s not an uptick whatsoever. And this is a poll, as I say, traditionally favorable to the regime.

Now, we know in most polls the number of people that oppose Obamacare, want it repealed, are in the mid- to upper fifties, in some polls low sixties. So here, Republicans more favorable than unfavorable first time since 2005. Obamacare less popular than any time since it became law. Let’s see, what’s next in the Stack of Stuff here? Well, interesting numbers. Going back over the past State of the Union addresses, when George W. Bush gave his State of the Union address in 2007, unemployment was 4.6%. When he gave his last State of the Union in 2008, it was 5%. That’s up .4%. Compared to when Obama gave his State of the Union address in ’09, 7.8%, and in 2010, 9.7%. So Bush’s last State of the Union, 2008, 5%, in Obama’s State of the Union, 9.7%. And the president is touting the growth of government and more government programs as a way to grow the economy.

From the stenographers at the Associated Press: ‘Employers will hire more workers this year, and the economy will grow faster than envisioned three months ago, according to an Associated Press survey that found growing optimism among leading economists.’ Now, these are the economists that have been predicting this ever since January 20th, 2009, and are going, ‘Whew.’ ‘But unemployment will stay chronically high — nearly 9 percent by year’s end, the latest quarterly AP Economy Survey shows. A majority of economists say it will be 2016 or later before unemployment drops to a historically normal rate of around 5 percent.’ Now, I’ve read the story front-to-back. AP tries to avoid mentioning the extension of the Bush tax cuts as part of the cause for any of this supposed optimism. But Obama’s out there trying to take credit for it. Obama’s out there, (imitating Obama) ‘Look what I did, look what I did, we’re cutting taxes.’ The AP wants to leave all that out. Also, the pie-in-the-sky projections don’t even add up. For instance, how can you double the number of jobs added and not lower the unemployment rate? And that’s what the story says they’re gonna do, they’re gonna double the number of jobs added. So headline says it all: ‘AP Survey: Outlook for 2011 Economy is Brightening.’

What’s next in the Stack of Stuff? From the Wall Street Journal: ‘Deficit Outlook Darkens — The federal budget deficit will reach a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2011 due to the weak economy.’ Now, what is your average news consumer to do here? ‘Outlook for 2011 economy brightening,’ AP. Wall Street Journal: ‘The federal budget deficit will reach a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2011 due to the weak economy, higher spending and fresh tax cuts,’ this according to congressional budget analysts, the beloved nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. But according to the previous story, what weak economy? And what fresh tax cuts? Haven’t been any tax cuts. And this is blasphemy here to talk about a weak economy.

What’s next in the stack here? Let’s see. Ah. From the AP. Okay, let’s just do this in chronological order here as we have done it. ‘AP Survey: Outlook for 2011 Economy is Brightening,’ ‘Deficit Outlook Darkens, Slowing Economy,’ Wall Street Journal. Back to AP: ‘The economy isn’t growing fast enough to lower unemployment,’ still needs help from the Federal Reserve, $600 billion Treasury bond purchase program. That was the assessment yesterday of Fed policy. What is a news consumer to do here? ‘AP Survey: Outlook for 2011 Economy is Brightening.’ ‘Federal budget deficit, record high, one and a half trillion, weak economy, economy isn’t growing fast enough to lower unemployment.’

And here we have the previously mentioned unemployment news: ‘The number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose sharply last week, but the figures were largely distorted by rare snowstorms that swept through the Southeast. Applications surged last week by a seasonally adjusted 51,000 to 454,000, the highest level since late October, the Labor Department said Thursday. A government analyst said that a major reason for the spike was the harsh weather in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. That forced many companies to shut down temporarily…’ Did they fire people? ‘… and also prevented many people from applying for benefits.’ Oh, no. My God, failure, couldn’t apply for benefits. Man, if you can’t apply for benefits, your world is empty. ‘When state offices, which had closed, reopened and people were able to file applications that pushed the number of requests up sharply.’ As I say, there’s no mention of snow or any weather anywhere in the Department of Labor’s press release reporting this week’s jobless figures. But we’ve compared and contrasted this with the earlier news article from the same writer, Jeannine Aversa. So AP’s contradicting itself all over the place.

Did it ever snow during the Bush years? Did we ever hear about snow and any impact it had on the unemployment numbers during the Bush years?

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Tracy, Dayton, Ohio. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet.

CALLER: I just wanted to make a comment on the unemployment numbers as someone who has been unemployed for about three years.

RUSH: Hm-hm.

CALLER: One thing. I think this is a little skewed, because don’t most people apply for unemployment online?

RUSH: I have no idea. I don’t have much experience with it, but I’m told that’s true. I’m glad you mentioned that because one of the things I was wondering, they say unemployment rate went up, or the applications for unemployment went up because of snow. Now, it seems to me that snow would keep people away from the benefits office. But they try to tell us that because of snow, more and more people pile into the benefits office. None of it makes any sense. There’s no logic to it whatsoever —

CALLER: No, not at all.

RUSH: — especially now if you say it’s all done online.

CALLER: Well, you can apply for jobs online. I’m not saying that’s the best way to get a job, but that is kind of the way things are now, so why wouldn’t they have time to apply for jobs at the same time?

RUSH: Well, because there’s this thing called the interview.

CALLER: (laughing) This is true.

RUSH: But, really, unemployment benefits, you file for it online, you don’t have to do unemployment office necessarily or Walmart?

CALLER: No. I actually applied myself within the last month for benefits and was turned down.

RUSH: Why? Why were you turned down?

CALLER: I apparently have exhausted my benefits, although —

RUSH: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What in the world happened to all these extensions?