Originally Posted by AsianDivaGirlsWebDude

I'm pretty skeptical that the current unemployment numbers are so easily manipulated. When the govt or the major political parties usually want to mislead people about employment numbers, they generally change the formula for calculating employment - i.e., how active duty military, incarcerated people, longterm unemployed, part-time workers, etc., are counted.

A better example of an "October surprise" occurred back in 1980, when the Reagan presidential campaign is alleged to have secretly cut an arms for hostages deal with Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeni, which ensured that the US embassy hostages would not be released until after the elections (helping to secure a victory for Reagan).

Minutes after Reagan was sworn into office, an announcement was made that the 52 US embassy hostages were suddenly going to be released, 444 days after being captured in the seizure of the US embassy.



How did they get away with it?



Let's not forget that portions of the money involved with the Iranian hostage deal, were illegally diverted to secretly finance a guerilla war in Nicaragua, along with illegal drug money.



ADG