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Old 11-01-2007, 09:33 PM  
Snake Doctor
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Join Date: Mar 2001
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Quote:
Originally Posted by minusonebit View Post
heh, unemployment statistics. Do you even know how that number is calculated? If you did, you would not rely on it. The unemployment rate in the US is probably more like 30% right now, not the 5-7% or whatever they claim it is at. Yes, the data does support that conclusion. The statistics do not support the conclusion, and the statistics, you remember, are arrived at by playing with and manipulating the data to make it say what those in power want it to say.
No number is perfect, not unless they knocked on the door of every home in America each month, and got an honest answer from the person inside.

The number is what the number is, and as long as it's calculated the same way every month then we know if things are getting better or worse.
The last time the unemployment number dropped into the low 4% range and below, (during the Clinton administration) we had mass wage spikes across the country because there was a serious labor shortage.
That alone should tell you that the number is a fairly reliable indicator of how much labor is available in our economy.

Your argument that the statistics are manipulated to say what those in power want it to say is ridiculous. If that were the case, the numbers would be calculated differently depending upon who is in office, and no incumbent would ever lose an election based on the economy.
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