In a heated appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball Friday, Jack Welch doubled down on his unsupported conspiracy theory that the Obama administration cooked the books on today’s improved jobs numbers.
Chris Matthews asked the former General Electric CEO to explain where the accusation came from. Welch said:
“All I can talk about are some of the numbers. We had 600,000 government jobs added in the last 2 months. We had 873,000 jobs by a household survey which is a total estimate from 50,000 phone calls. Of those 600,000 were temporary workers. Chris, these numbers are all a series of assumptions. Tons of assumptions. And it just seems somewhat coincidental that the month before the election, the numbers go one tenth of a point below where they were when the president started, although I don’t see anything in the economy that says these surges are true.”
Matthews voiced his suspicion that Welch’s assertions are based in political bias against Obama, not economic concern. He asked Welch what evidence he has that the Obama administration got to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and doctored data. Welch confirmed he hadn’t spoken to any economists, analysts, or accounting specialists:
“I have no evidence to prove that, I just raised the question.”
Matthews wasn’t satisfied; accusing a presidential administration of manipulating data is “Nixon stuff,” that goes beyond raising a question. He gave Welch one last opportunity to walk back the claim. Welch declined, “I don’t take back any part of that tweet.”
Former Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Keith Hall dismissed Welch's claim on Friday, telling The Wall Street Journal it is "impossible to manipulate labor survey data." Leading economist Jared Bernstein called Welch’s accusation “outrageous;” Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis dubbed it “ludicrous.”
UPDATE at 11:09 p.m. ET: In a later appearance on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Welch said “I should have put a question mark on the end of that [tweet], let’s face it,” Welch said.
*NBC Universal, the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC, is a joint venture of Comcast and General Electric since 2011. Jack Welch was General Electric’s CEO until 2001.
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Can you believe this guy is only 68 years old! He looks like
one of the bank trolls in Harry Potter.
The GOP conspiracy theories are so boring and juvenile and
they are making asses out of themselves. Why is it that the Republican party is
so obsessed with conspiracy theories. Are that they that threatened by the
truth or is it that they are poor losers or both?
The Gringotts Head Goblin, an employee of Gringotts Wizarding Bank
Calling conspiracy fantasies and wishes "theories" trivializes real theories which, in order to be called such by scientists, do require factual data and the ability to replicate findings, as well as qualified peer review.
The best term we can use with Jack Welch is that he has a hypothesis -- which is he pulled out of his azz and has yet to be tested or stand up to QUALIFIED peer review.
The best we can say about Jack Welch today is that as someone who has deep enough knowledge of the real workings of the employment data collection is that as such, Jack Welch is a terrific has-been, former, retired CEO bully of a very big company. Evidently, he has delusions of grandeur that just because he is Jack Welch, he can say anything and still have credibility. NOT!
He now has about as much credibility as Orly Taitz.
Liberals and conservatives, alike, are notorious for their wild conspiracy claims. If a Republican were in the White House right now and the economy were the same, and a noticeable fluctuation in the unemployment rate occurred, it wouldn't be in the slightest bit surprising to see liberals crying conspiracy. With economic stats fluctuating from month to month, who is really to say what the true trend in unemployment is, and what is or isn't responsible for a real change in it, if indeed a real change has even occurred? What will next month's numbers be, and the month after that? And who on either side can legitimately take the credit for minor changes in unemployment figures unless genuine evidence can be provided?
Both Democrats and Republicans are fiscally irresponsible and have racked up a huge national debt as well as mismanaging the finances of various states in the Union. Yet they still pointlessly argue among each other and scream conspiracy.
I have evidence.
http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp
The real unemployment rate is over 14%. Also, unemployment is over 50% for fresh grads.
Want to know the real rate of inflation or how the standard of living has dropped? The numbers are all baked.
We all know the right wing of the Republican party's position. Notice this is not the Rebublican party I grew up with, but some distorted almost crazy faction. Crazy: do you think either Christie, or Welch or Murdock, and I forget some of the other unstable psychologically handicapped people who have been getting attention they dont deserve, have ever had therapy? Boy, do do of them need it.
Weeks old now. No longer news. If you don't have news to post, don't bother posting.
Our president is an elect to office we all know he is not the temp. I think that he can spur the topic of employment so that maybe we get a better idea. I think the job market is better than the career, I have a career. With a job market that can hire.