overwhelming data Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Scandal? (Update)

I know that there are some who feel that they are oh, so close to seeing the end of the Obama administration. These are the same people who thought that Mitt Romney was going to win the general election. This, of course, was in spite of overwhelming data suggesting otherwise. President Barack Obama is facing a trifecta of scandals. Let’s investigate each of the scandals separately.

Confused

Benghazi. This is the gift that keeps on giving. At long last it appears the conservatives actually have traction on this issue. Yet, there’s really nothing here. The administration initially stated that there were demonstrations before the Benghazi attack. This was wrong. The administration admitted their mistake. They came clean to the American people before the November election. Basically, an ambassador was in an extremely dangerous situation. He had an adequate security. We have a detailed report which clearly points the finger at the State Department. On top of that, we know that Secretary Clinton warned of budget cuts which could have serious ramifications. Today, the latest is that ABC News, which claimed that they had the original email trail of the talking points, really didn’t have the real trail. Jake Tapper blew the lid off of this false reporting by ABC News. (The White House has released more e-mails. We have seen these before, just in a different format.)

IRS scandal. Last night, President Obama accepted the resignation of acting IRS Commissioner Stephen Miller. I agree with the president. The IRS must be a nonpartisan organization. Those who are responsible for this craziness need to be singled out and punished. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2013-05-16T20:51:00-04:00May 16th, 2013|Obama administration, Party Politics|Comments Off

The Politics of False Correlation – Regulations and Job Growth

This is an excellent example of garbage journalism. You have Greta Van Susteren arguing that small businesses are being strangled by overwhelming regulations. Okay. Where’s the data? Instead of arguing the data, Greta Van Susteren simply tells Paul Krugman to ask small businesses why they aren’t hiring. What’s wrong with that? What is wrong with simply asking a business owner about his business behaviors? Well, most of the time, business owners have not sat down and thought about why they do the things that they do. Secondly, many business owners do not delineate between federal, state and local regulations. They see this as all – government regulations. Finally, I should add that Americans are terrible at explaining why we embrace certain behaviors.

From the Economic Policy Institute:

The most common general studies are of environmental regulations, and these have consistently failed to find significant negative employment effects. Moreover, studies suggesting that regulations have broad negative effects on the economy offer little persuasive evidence.

Some well-executed studies have found that certain regulations led to job losses in particular areas, but most studies of various industries suggest that regulations had either a close to neutral or small positive effect on employment levels.

The problem with our economy is not some mysterious “regulations” that are holding our economy hostage. The problem with our economy is a lack of demand. Consumers are not spending. There’s overwhelming data to support this. Simply put, there’s a large number of consumers who don’t have a job. These consumers are not spending. There are large numbers of Americans who are living with economic uncertainty. They may only have part-time work. They may be working at a company at which they have seen their fellow coworkers get laid off. This atmosphere will cause most of us to be apprehensive about spending. We really and truly don’t need any mysterious “regulations” to explain our economic woes.

By ecthompsonmd|2013-04-09T19:48:15-04:00April 8th, 2013|Economy|Comments Off