The Economy and Unemployment Benefits
I haven’t had an opportunity to talk about the fact that the “War on Poverty” has just turned 50. Instead, I’d like to spend some time talking about the economy. Towards the end of this post I will talk about unemployment benefits. Today we got the much-anticipated jobs numbers. Sometimes the jobs numbers are little hard to digest. This month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy added 74,000 jobs. If you think that number is somewhat low, you are in excellent company. The unemployment rate dipped to 6.7%. I don’t believe any of it. This number (74,000 jobs) is a three-year low. Last month, the month that should’ve been hit extremely hard by the government shutdown, the economy added 241,000 jobs. I’m not sure about that number either.
I have been following the labor statistics fairly closely for nearly a decade. There seems to always be one or two numbers that come out either extremely high or extremely low that are revised over the coming months. All of the economic indicators that we’ve seen over the last two or three months seem to show that the economy is continuing to pick up steam.
If we put aside the $70 million price tag for a second and look at this suit, I think that we will find a gold nugget at the end of the rainbow. Remember that Dan Rather was fired or put out to pasture because of a story on 60 Minutes II that Rather did on Bush’s National Guard Service. The old question on whether or not George Bush completed his Texas Air National Guard service has never been completely answered. Rather produced documents that seemed to show that Bush wasn’t performing well. Immediately, I mean, during the broadcast, there was an instant cry of foul. Soon, the documents authenticity was questioned. CBS originally backed the story then started to waffle then caved. Dan Rather was taken off the Evening News and placed on 60 minutes II. He really wasn’t used much and he quit. This brings us to the present.