Comments on: Conspiracy Jack

By: solotar

solotar — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 22:08:47 +0000

Hilarious. Make fun of idiot conservatives for suggesting BLS data was fudged. These people are loony! Update: Oops, the BLS data was fudged. Never mind. Move along: these aren’t the droids you’re looking for.

By: MrRFox

MrRFox — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:07:08 +0000

@RalfW –

Yeah, that’s been the game-plan all along. Sad and scary at the same time – it just might work.

By: RalfW

RalfW — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:51:36 +0000

For “Jack Welch, it seems, any time there’s US data which makes the government look good…”
The big irony here is that these new numbers were a chance for corporate America, which ain’t exactly been liked these past few years, could have looked good.
Look at the hiring in the private sector? people like Welch could have said. Plenty of American companies aren’t ofshoring or right-sizing!
But no, rather than take the credit, he blew the message to smithereens.
These people cannot be happy for workers, corporate America, if there’s the slightest chance it could rub off on Obama.
That seems nearly sociopathic, to be basically rooting for more worker & family suffering so that the era of Mitt can arrive.

By: MrRFox

MrRFox — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:04:09 +0000

Libel, same as a defamatory post. But both Obama and Welch are ‘public figures’. Fortunately for Felix and Welch (and me), actual fraud must then be proven for the action to lie.

By: Christofurio

Christofurio — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:52:45 +0000

Hmmm. Is a defamatory tweet slander or libel?

By: Barry_D

Barry_D — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 11:53:59 +0000

” and Welch might well have some insight as to why the real unemployment rate is higher than that.”

No, he doesn’t. He might know a lot about corporate earnings (and manipulation thereof), but is there any evidence that he knows anything about the unemployment rate? Or at least any better than somebody who’s put in even a few years at the BLS?

“But one has to question government numbers… Consider inflation calculation — people switch from steak to hamburger and what next, cat food? Rent was counted but not mortgage payments. They always strip out food and energy for core inflation, but if 20% of your income goes to these things, what does it mean? ”

In terms of food and energy, this has been covered by Krugman. Search his blog for ‘core inflation’, and you’ll find explanations and analyses.

By: lknobel

lknobel — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 23:03:33 +0000

It’s a long-standing mystery why Jack Welch was turned into such an icon of management excellence. Even in his heyday, the manipulation of earnings was evident. The dependence on GE Capital should have been clear. He wasn’t a bad steward of GE, but it was always absurd to elevate him to such heights.

By: rb6

rb6 — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:02:06 +0000

Welch and his wife have been on a downward slide into caricatures of themselves for a while:

“Suzy Welch, former editor in chief of the Harvard Business Review, and wife of Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric[, in]. . . an appearance on CNN with her husband . . . suggested that Mr Obama’s personal style and choice of musical material define him as a member of a ‘different America’. I would imagine this is why Mr Romney’s campaign included the snippet of Mr Obama singing ‘Let’s Stay Together’ at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. They hoped it would convey his otherness.

“‘It’s the difference between the songs that they’re singing,’ Mrs Welch said. ‘Mitt Romney didn’t exactly do a beautiful job on that song, but think about what he’s singing, OK? I mean it’s that patriotic song and he goes all the way through it. Then you’ve got the very cool Barack Obama singing Al Green. That is the two different Americas. Isn’t it?’”

Oh yes, two different Americas, but not the ones she’s thinking of.

By: upstater

upstater — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 18:35:17 +0000

Welch has an obvious axe to grind. He is a hack.

But one has to question government numbers… Consider inflation calculation — people switch from steak to hamburger and what next, cat food? Rent was counted but not mortgage payments. They always strip out food and energy for core inflation, but if 20% of your income goes to these things, what does it mean?

re. the BLS household survey, it collects data from 55,000 households; over a period of a year, that is probably 1% of all households. In 40 years of being a “household”, I have never been surveyed and do not know of anyone that has received such a survey. Who are they sampling? I have neighbors that long ago gave up looking for work and they simply don’t count anymore.

John Williams Shadow Stats might be a bit off the wall sometimes, but he does call attention to suspect numbers.

By: MrRFox

MrRFox — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 18:04:42 +0000

Welch is a guy in his dotage, and has been for a while. He embarrasses himself in this episode and others – you’d kind of expect his loving (trophy) wife to rein that in, but maybe not. Sad all around. Kinda feel the same about dwelling on it so. I mean, even if he richly deserves to be whipped when he’s down, actually doing it with such enthusiasm ….

Must admit I can be an excessively vindictive type in the right circumstances, but I got gotta say too – I got nothin’ on you, FS.

By: Eericsonjr

Eericsonjr — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:23:53 +0000

Would that your conclusion ’bout basing one’s opinion on ideology alone were backed by some evidence. It appears to me to be a lucrative and growing field, if one’s ideology matches that of the money boys.

Beyond that, though, what a spectacle: to watch a revered and iconic psychopath devolve into paranoid senility.

Pass the popcorn!