This year is the first time in my life I have ever heard the news media proclaiming the weather as a serious factor driving economic statistics.
That’s a GREAT point. Now that you say that neither have I.
All that global warming driving these winter storms. Or something.
They use any and every excuse they can. When employment went up because of Christmas workers, they didn’t mention it. It was real job growth. When they had that ATM charges debacle, the government blamed that as a job/economy killer. The nuclear plants in Japan, Tsunamis, earthquakes in Turkey, a cow farted in Spain, the Greek banking crisis, so-and-so didn’t get American Idol because of racism and employment went down - all that. Anything and everything.
The FACT is this government - the whole damned government - LIES!
That’s the way to media reports that it’s not Mr.’O’s fault.
It’s Pres. Bush’s fault because he is responsible for global warming which changed the weather pattern.
I’ve heard it for years listening to hundreds and hundreds of company earnings calls.
Here’s the comment from BLS on weather:
How can unusually severe weather affect employment and hours estimates?
In the establishment survey, the reference period is the pay period that includes the 12th of the month. Unusually severe weather is more likely to have an impact on average weekly hours than on employment. Average weekly hours are estimated for paid time during the pay period, including pay for holidays, sick leave, or other time off. The impact of severe weather on hours estimates typically, but not always, results in a reduction in average weekly hours. For example, some employees may be off work for part of the pay period and not receive pay for the time missed, while some workers, such as those dealing with cleanup or repair, may work extra hours.
In order for severe weather conditions to reduce the estimate of payroll employment, employees have to be off work without pay for the entire pay period. Slightly more than 20 percent of all employees in the payroll survey sample have a weekly pay period. Employees who receive pay for any part of the pay period, even 1 hour, are counted in the payroll employment figures. It is not possible to quantify the effect of extreme weather on estimates of over-the-month change in employment.
In the household survey, the reference period is generally the calendar week that includes the 12th of the month. Persons who miss the entire week’s work for weather-related events are counted as employed whether or not they are paid for the time off. The household survey collects data on the number of persons who had a job but were not at work due to bad weather. It also provides a measure of the number of persons who usually work full time but had reduced hours due to bad weather. Current and historical data are available on the household survey’s most requested statistics page at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ln.
In the old Soviet Union, it was SOP to blame agricultural and Five Year Plan shortfalls on the weather.
Now that we have Marxists running our government, they will naturally blame our shortfalls on the weather. It is so much easier to blame that than the real reason (them).
“This year is the first time in my life I have ever heard the news media proclaiming the weather as a serious factor driving economic statistics.”
You’re right; it is simply this year’s excuse in an attempt to save the Dems in the mid-terms (and to further cloud for Americans just how bleak the future is for so many of them). When I first saw this, I couldn’t help but think of the people I know who have been in denial for years about how bad things are. Bar/restaurant owners always offered similar weak excuses when their clientele fell, even when anyone present could recall when such places were packed year-round; they’d blame the weather, the season, anything else but the fact that discretionary spending is gone for many potential customers. Friends I know involved in fundraising had the same rose-colored glasses on when contributions consistently fell; they had every excuse (often inconsequential issues hardly related to their work) except acknowledging that those days of free-spending Americans were gone...