A.J. DiCintio
A springtime gift of truth
By A.J. DiCintio
Like far too many ostensibly tough-minded journalists of the past hundred years, I.F. Stone could not or would not admit the truth about Stalinist communism, despite its being the horrifying elephant in every room, including salons where to this day leftists spout their arrogant nonsense.
To his credit, however, Stone eventually did issue forceful condemnations, an honorable act that gives all the more credence to one of his observations surely attributable to an inner Mark Twain:
"All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed."
Since that "nothing" includes economic lies told by frauds whose skill in telling untruths is capable of evoking jealously in "the father of lies," we should be especially appreciative of the springtime gift of truth investment professional Grant Williams has given us in "It's All Relative," posted at mauldineconomics.com, where financial guru John Mauldin meticulously sees to it that facts rule the day.
Heeding the injunction that criticism should begin at home, Williams begins his list of "disconnection[s] from reality" by contrasting what the U.S. government says about the job picture with the facts.
As he reports, the government tells us simply and proudly that in February 236,000 new jobs were created in professions, business, construction, and healthcare, sending the unemployment rate down to 7.7%.
What good news! After all, the Fed informs us repeatedly that at 6.5% all will be so well it can put an end to its "highly accommodative monetary policy" (in truthful English, "welfare program for big banks and other deep-pocketed entities").
However, as Williams observes, what the government doesn't tell us is that the number of part-time jobs in February increased by an "amazing" 446,000, meaning that the number of full-time jobs decreased by 276,000.
Now, an America in which part-time jobs dominate job growth is an America in serious trouble. But the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth about jobs means nothing to a government religiously devoted to furthering the lie of the "Obama Recovery."
Moreover, Williams' data reveals that the government has no interest in making it well known that to calculate the unemployment rate, it doesn't count Americans who have dropped out of the labor pool, a huge lie of omission accompanied by another that keeps off the front pages Bureau of Labor Statistics' data showing that the labor force participation rate is down to its 1980 level.
If the dropouts were included, he says, the actual unemployment rate would be 11.3%.
But that very inconvenient number doesn't further the image of Barack Obama as a transformative genius.
Furthermore, a little research discovers that if the participation rate today were at its level in 2000, there would be six million more people working, a reality that prompts this question:
What do the real numbers regarding unemployment and underemployment tell us about how much the government is denied in tax receipts as well as how much more it must spend on a burgeoning population who need government assistance in the form of unemployment checks, food stamps, and other kinds of assistance, including the Social Security disability program, whose numbers, since 2009, have rocketed to record highs?
Though the public continues to hope for honesty, it won't get the truth from government because if asked for the facts, Obama himself will lie that America's minor economic ills can be fixed with another tax increase on the rich.
Happily, Williams' gift doesn't end with an honest look at our nation's job situation; for after laying before us examples of phony reassurances spewed by Europe's political elites, he tells the truth about nanny states that are the darlings of American liberals.
. . . For instance, that in 2012's fourth quarter, unemployment in the economic and political catastrophe that is Greece actually rose to a record 26% overall, including 57.8% among those under 25.
. . . That in 2012, depression wracked Spain, Europe's fourth largest economy ravaged by unemployment numbers similar to those afflicting Greece, saw its already pernicious debt rise to a record 84% of GDP, with 90.5% projected for 2013.
. . . That in its recent election, Italy, suffocated mightily by the dual incubi of a massive 126% debt to GDP ratio and a Himalayan-sized mountain of governmental red tape, "decided to avoid reality" as citizens split among a center-left party poisoned by radical leftists; a party headed by the former "clownish," thoroughly incompetent head of government; and a reform party headed by a "genuine comedian."
. . . And that France, Europe's second largest economy, is such an economic and political disaster, it is, in reality, a "hidden zombie."
Giving us an insight into the economic fright that is France, Williams points out that while the nation sold 7% of all world exports in 1999, today it sells a still deteriorating 3%, another horrendous failure of the nanny state that helps us to understand why, having assumed office just last May with a 59% approval rating, Socialist French President Francois Hollande has seen the number suffer an astonishing free fall to 31%.
Regarding The Continent, Grant Williams exposes many more inconvenient realities that drive the true-believing liberals of our current administration into their shamelessly dishonest silence.
But the truths presented above are sufficient to warrant a sincere "thank you" – if only because they cause us to think about the ugly lies of omission our president commits every time he promises how much more beautiful the United States will become after he has transformed it into a European style social democracy.
© A.J. DiCintio
March 24, 2013
Like far too many ostensibly tough-minded journalists of the past hundred years, I.F. Stone could not or would not admit the truth about Stalinist communism, despite its being the horrifying elephant in every room, including salons where to this day leftists spout their arrogant nonsense.
To his credit, however, Stone eventually did issue forceful condemnations, an honorable act that gives all the more credence to one of his observations surely attributable to an inner Mark Twain:
"All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed."
Since that "nothing" includes economic lies told by frauds whose skill in telling untruths is capable of evoking jealously in "the father of lies," we should be especially appreciative of the springtime gift of truth investment professional Grant Williams has given us in "It's All Relative," posted at mauldineconomics.com, where financial guru John Mauldin meticulously sees to it that facts rule the day.
Heeding the injunction that criticism should begin at home, Williams begins his list of "disconnection[s] from reality" by contrasting what the U.S. government says about the job picture with the facts.
As he reports, the government tells us simply and proudly that in February 236,000 new jobs were created in professions, business, construction, and healthcare, sending the unemployment rate down to 7.7%.
What good news! After all, the Fed informs us repeatedly that at 6.5% all will be so well it can put an end to its "highly accommodative monetary policy" (in truthful English, "welfare program for big banks and other deep-pocketed entities").
However, as Williams observes, what the government doesn't tell us is that the number of part-time jobs in February increased by an "amazing" 446,000, meaning that the number of full-time jobs decreased by 276,000.
Now, an America in which part-time jobs dominate job growth is an America in serious trouble. But the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth about jobs means nothing to a government religiously devoted to furthering the lie of the "Obama Recovery."
Moreover, Williams' data reveals that the government has no interest in making it well known that to calculate the unemployment rate, it doesn't count Americans who have dropped out of the labor pool, a huge lie of omission accompanied by another that keeps off the front pages Bureau of Labor Statistics' data showing that the labor force participation rate is down to its 1980 level.
If the dropouts were included, he says, the actual unemployment rate would be 11.3%.
But that very inconvenient number doesn't further the image of Barack Obama as a transformative genius.
Furthermore, a little research discovers that if the participation rate today were at its level in 2000, there would be six million more people working, a reality that prompts this question:
What do the real numbers regarding unemployment and underemployment tell us about how much the government is denied in tax receipts as well as how much more it must spend on a burgeoning population who need government assistance in the form of unemployment checks, food stamps, and other kinds of assistance, including the Social Security disability program, whose numbers, since 2009, have rocketed to record highs?
Though the public continues to hope for honesty, it won't get the truth from government because if asked for the facts, Obama himself will lie that America's minor economic ills can be fixed with another tax increase on the rich.
Happily, Williams' gift doesn't end with an honest look at our nation's job situation; for after laying before us examples of phony reassurances spewed by Europe's political elites, he tells the truth about nanny states that are the darlings of American liberals.
. . . For instance, that in 2012's fourth quarter, unemployment in the economic and political catastrophe that is Greece actually rose to a record 26% overall, including 57.8% among those under 25.
. . . That in 2012, depression wracked Spain, Europe's fourth largest economy ravaged by unemployment numbers similar to those afflicting Greece, saw its already pernicious debt rise to a record 84% of GDP, with 90.5% projected for 2013.
. . . That in its recent election, Italy, suffocated mightily by the dual incubi of a massive 126% debt to GDP ratio and a Himalayan-sized mountain of governmental red tape, "decided to avoid reality" as citizens split among a center-left party poisoned by radical leftists; a party headed by the former "clownish," thoroughly incompetent head of government; and a reform party headed by a "genuine comedian."
. . . And that France, Europe's second largest economy, is such an economic and political disaster, it is, in reality, a "hidden zombie."
Giving us an insight into the economic fright that is France, Williams points out that while the nation sold 7% of all world exports in 1999, today it sells a still deteriorating 3%, another horrendous failure of the nanny state that helps us to understand why, having assumed office just last May with a 59% approval rating, Socialist French President Francois Hollande has seen the number suffer an astonishing free fall to 31%.
Regarding The Continent, Grant Williams exposes many more inconvenient realities that drive the true-believing liberals of our current administration into their shamelessly dishonest silence.
But the truths presented above are sufficient to warrant a sincere "thank you" – if only because they cause us to think about the ugly lies of omission our president commits every time he promises how much more beautiful the United States will become after he has transformed it into a European style social democracy.
© A.J. DiCintio
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