In order to make a fully informed decision in November you must be informed about both Obama and Romney, and in order to be informed one must know both sides of the story. Unfortunately the way politics has developed you must read between the lines when you hear them talk or read a transcript of their speeches. Also sometimes there are outright lies in them, here is an example from Nancy Pelosi's DNC speech. “Under President Obama, we’ve gone from losing 800,000 jobs
a month to adding 4.5 million private sector jobs over the last 29 months.” (Fox News
Insider) I do not know where she got her numbers from but, after a few minutes of online research I found a chart on the Washington post website refuting what she said. I will post it below.
As you can see these numbers tell a completely different story than Ms.Pelosi's numbers. Giving her the benefit of the doubt I'm going to believe that she was either misinformed or she was given the gross numbers and not the net numbers. Granted the Washington Post is a right wing site so their numbers may also be a little slanted, but it shows you that the real job numbers are somewhere in the middle.
That is all for this week! Please stay informed and make sure if you're eligible to vote you do. Many people have died for your right to vote. Don't let their sacrifice be in vein.
Works Cited
Cillaza, Chris. President Obama’s job creation
problem — in one chart (with caveats) . 2 August 2012. 5 September 2012
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/president-obamas-job-creation-problem--in-one-chart/2012/08/02/gJQA58tsRX_blog.html>.
Fox News Insider. 5 September 2012. 5 September 2012
<http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/09/05/nancy-pelosis-dnc-speech/>.
Politics is something that is very frustrating for me. The truth is stretched and untruths are minimized. The same statistics can be read in different ways depending on how it suits their purpose. The main objective of a politician is to get re-elected and it often appears that they will do whatever it takes to get into office or get back into office. It seems that the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. The best thing to do is to do your own research and not just accept whatever politicians say.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if what you're arguing here is what the graphic shows. Overall job gains are considered both public (teachers, government workers, police, military, etc.) and private, but Pelosi's quote is about the private sector only. I would strongly suggest staying away from the most heavily Republican and Democratic websites and instead find news, for example, from the BBC, or PBS, or CSPAN, or the government chart like you have here, but be very clear to make sure what you're using as proof actually proves your point. Otherwise, an argument can completely fall to pieces. Since the job numbers came out today, the unemployment rate is actually lower than what is on this chart...so even that is not the complete story. What economic factors drove the numbers?
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't it Chris Cillizza?
One other note: if you have Chris Cillizza in the references section, you need to add his name to the actual text, too. Show us which piece of data you got from him. Also, the Washington Post is not "Right Wing." Did you mean the Washington Times?
ReplyDeleteI think what your arguing here is EXACTLY what the graphic shows! You obviously have a real zeal for politics and it makes me want to get involved in the democratic process! Right on! Keep up the good work!
ReplyDelete