Letters: Doubts about the unemployment rate
Re “Critics take jab at job figures,” Business, Oct. 6
Whenever a news report gives President Obama a positive push, the cynics start their conspiracy dance. Shortly after the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the unemployment rate had fallen to 7.8%, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch tweeted, “Unbelievable jobs numbers … these Chicago guys will do anything … can’t debate so change number.”
MSNBC host Chris Mathews got Welch on his program and asked how he came to his conspiracy conclusion so quickly. Welch said that his tweet only asked a question. Welch admitted that he had no evidence for any White House involvement in the labor data but said an unemployment rate decline just before an election was “somewhat coincidental.”
Many GOP supporters jumped on the conspiracy bandwagon and filled cyberspace with their versions of how Obama managed to break the 8% barrier that so many GOP talking heads pestered him about for years.
Sol Taylor
Sherman Oaks
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