Obama’s Inflated Jobs Claim

Yahoo! News ^ | 10/23/12 | FactCheck.org

[NormsRevenge]

In a new TV ad, President Obama makes an inflated claim to have added 5.2 million new jobs. The total added during his time in office is actually about 325,000. In the ad, the president says “over 5 million new jobs” while the figure “5.2 million” appears on screen. But that’s a doubly misleading figure.

Viewers would need to pay close attention to the on-screen graphic to know that the ad refers only to employment gains starting in March 2010, omitting the 4.3 million jobs that were lost in the first year of Obama’s term. And there’s no way a viewer would know that the total counts only private-sector jobs, omitting continuing losses in government employment.

According to the most recent employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy has eked out a net gain of 325,000 jobs since January 2009, when Obama took office. And that’s giving credit for roughly 386,000 jobs that the BLS has announced, on a preliminary basis, that it will be adding to this year’s employment totals next year, as a result of its routine annual “benchmarking” analysis.

Looking only at private-sector jobs, it’s true that the total has risen just under 5.2 million since February 2010 — provided that credit is given for roughly 453,000 private-sector jobs to be added next year through the BLS benchmarking process. But over Obama’s entire term, those private-sector jobs have gone up only 967,000, even counting benchmarking additions.

Other claims in the ad are essentially accurate: Exports are rising; home values have begun to recover; U.S. automakers are making profits, for example. And viewers can judge for themselves how they feel about the “plan for the next four years” that the president briefly outlines in the ad, which is couched in broad generalities.

[Doogle]

yahoo?....hey Bambi, yahoo just called you out

[originalbuckeye]

His entire political career has been built on the fact that most people will hear the lie and believe it and miss the correction. Just like with the Crowley debacle. She walked back her endorsement of Obama’s words right after the debate, but how many heard the retraction? Romney needs to confront the lies in ads, while putting forth his good ideas. I would like to see an ad with Obama speaking his denigration of America and American values. It should go nationally and play for the next two week. Romney only ha to add: Isn’t it time for us to have a President who is supportive of Americans and American values.

[timestax]

bttt

[ConservativeInPA]

I don’t think 47% of the country can do the math to understand the lie. If you have kids, use it as a math lesson. I used the national debt as a lesson in scientific notation with my kids.

[timestax]