LINKS: 2 GREAT Rachel Maddow graphics refuting GOP LIES about deficits and the effect

on job growth of the Obama Administration's economic stimulus programs.

Why is it that the great, simplifying, informative charts Rachel often broadcasts NEVER appear on Fox "News" or even in mainstream "legitimate journalism"?

I've often found that a minute of looking at an appropriate graphic often easily and utterly DESTROYS one of the many economic hoaxes being perpetrated by Republicans through Fox and other elements of their "mighty Wurlitzer" of disinformation.

(1) "Obama's Stimulus Has Had NO Effect on Job Growth".



Ten seconds of looking at the graph at http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/04/05/4118097-bikini-graph-on-jobs-and-more would IMO cause even the most abject, dumbed down, Republican dupe to question this gem of disinformation. Yet polls have found that more than 60 percent of Americans believe it!

(2) "Tax Cuts Pay for Themselves".



The antidote to this propaganda whopper is in figure 1 near the beginning of http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3036 .

The most important sentence in the writeup describing the chart is

"Just two policies dating from the Bush Administration „ tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan „ accounted for over $500 billion of the deficit in 2009 and will account for almost $7 trillion in deficits in 2009 through 2019, including the associated debt-service costs. <6>"

Why haven't progressives been more effective in disseminating these simplifying and persuasive graphic refutations of Republican economic lies?

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION?

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How I found these links:

After seeing the deficit chart on Rachel's show and noting the "Source" footnote, I found it by googling "deficit site:cbpp.org" at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=deficit+site%3Acbpp.org&btnG=Google+Search -- it was the second "hit".

To find the "bikini" job growth graph, I googled '+"rachel maddow" bikini graph job' at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2B%22rachel+maddow%22+bikini+graph+job .

For greater impact to your OP, and K and R.

"Bikini Graph":



"Legacy of Bush Cuts Drive Record Deficits":



:patriot:

so quickly.

Luckily, your help came in time for me to edit the OP to include those JPG links.

They make a big difference, don't you think?

Thanks for posting! :thumbsup: Al Franken liked graphs on his show, too, used a slide whistle for his radio audience... ;)

Now that he's in the Senate, maybe he could revive that practice during debates. The "bikini" graph would be a great backdrop for Franken Senate remarks during debate of additional stimulus legislation in the months leading up to November. The slide whistle tone would go down dramatically, and then back up.

What media news outlet could resist broadcasting that "gimmick"?

I used to watch his radio show late nights on Sundance, so I could actually see it, but he used the slide whistle for his radio audience, very clever. And he's been brilliant in the Senate, no big surprise, plus he makes C-Span much more entertaining, LOL. One great thing about Al Franken is that he is not shy about using any effective means in making his point, so I think that both the graphs and his old favorite,the slide whistle, would work for him. I'm not from Minnesota, but I still feel that he represents us... :patriot:

his sound bytes more often now?

And we do see Al pretty often on this board, but, as for the MSM is concerned, we all know the answer to that. *sigh* He's of interest to them when he does something controversial, like shutting down John McCain in the Senate or when he was responding to hits from Norm Coleman during that nightmare of an election... :(

Here: :D
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=488879&mesg_id=488879

Will this be mentioned this Sunday? What do you think?

posted for Sunday Newstalk shows (in GD at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8810404 .)

It appears from cal04's list the Sherry Sherrod distraction from the financial reform signing still has "legs" and will dominate today. (Though I doubt anyone on the guest list except maybe Jesse Jackson on "Fox News Sunday" will try to tie the Sherrod affair to the GENUINE USDA racism story--148 years of anti-Black US Government racism that helped deliver the wealth from hundreds of thousands of Black-owned farms over to Caucasians.)

But IMO both graphs in the OP will remain VERY relevant to future Sunday shows all the way to November. IMO the economy and "kitchen table issues" will become more and more the focus of voters as elections get closer and closer.

economy outlined in the OP?

I've seen it on Rachel's show but not as a jpg and I'm looking for it.

Thanks!

from the "Office of the Speaker", and Pelosi's staff got it (or the raw data that underlie it) from bls.gov. You might concentrate your search in those two places.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_07/024546.php .

Its author, Steve Benen, claims credit for the original "bikini" Rachel made famous, at http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_04/023184.php , and evidently has updated it the first Friday of every month since well before Rachel's April "bikini graph" show.

:hi:

All of these graphs can be found in this location:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/speakerpelosi/sets/72157623367757714/detail/


Here are the two latest:

Seriously this is just ridiculous.

I think Obama is trying to do the right thing - but graphs like this are just absurd.

Here you have a graph showing what appears to be an almost immediate turn around in unemployment figures, which it is not. It is simply impossible for this to even be the case as the turmoil from the collapse went for a significant period BEFORE Obama even introduced any measures.

Secondly the figures are - sorry - painfully distorted. The graphs are showing a turn around from job losses - in other words what we are looking at is the massive job losses tapering off - not, NOT creating new jobs or creating employment. This is incredibly deceptive and is simply fodder for republicans to tear into the left. Insane strategy. Consider a market with 1000 workers, every day 10 workers are laid off, this increases till 100 workers are being laid a day this then tapers off back to 10 a day until there are only 100 workers left - then Obama creates 10 jobs. Thats what you are looking at. After 900 workers are laid off 10 jobs are created and you are shouting recovery - its bullshit.

So once more - America is absolutely NOT recovering - the June figures which showed 27 states again reducing payrolls confirms this. These figures also obscure hidden unemployment with many putting the real figure at around 20% - economists in the US are now simply placing this as a long term accepted unemployment figure.

The US has had the entire middle class ripped out of its guts from the republicans race to the bottom in outsourcing the labor market in an effort to increase share prices (an abhorrent side effect of CEO and executive pay by equity). Stop gap measures aimed via census taking are not going to do squat.

The figures - including things such as Fords 6 months of profit are not what they seem - this is a consequence of laying off most of your staff, clash for clunkers, bailouts and government support - in other words imagine a super market which employs thousands and sells millions a year is reduced to two staff but manages to sell enough hot dogs to post 6 months of profit - thats not a recovery - thats not a good thing - that is complete and utter devastation of your entire economy. And when it has gotten so bad there is no where else left for it to go - as is the case with unemployment - the decline in losses is seen as a success. MY GOD !!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME ?

Discouraged workers are UP - thats right UP 415,000 from the previous year. Standing at 2.6 million. (These people are not counted in official figure)
Involuntary part time workers - people without a real job - stands at 8.6 million (These people are not counted in official figure - they have a job).
The marginally attached stands at 2.6 million. (Also not included)

So the current figure of 14.6 - should actually stand at around double the official rate. There are a PLETHORA of other exclusions which blows this figure even further out of the water. Consider that the OFFICIAL rate for youth unemployment (so add however much you feel fair) is over 25%. 25 percent unemployment rate currently exists in what can only be called the future of your country - OMFG. The consequences of that alone will be felt for decades and may well be the most debilitating factor imaginable.

on top of all of this is the massive, MASSIVE reduction in work hours and reduction in payrolls. The consequence of jobs is yes you can work and we will take you off benefits and off the stats sheets - but you cant work for as many hours and worse, you aren't getting paid as much. Thats right - wages are spiraling downwards - as you would expect in a climate like this. A negative wage spiral is something you do not recover from without serious intervention of the socialist kind - GOP would be ALL OVER THAT - so the net result of employment is that the US living wage is going to be driven further into the ground.

But - on the positive note - Obama has been conducting forced emigration of illegal immigrants at the fastest rate in history - that makes lots of jobs. And of course - these people were not even counted as unemployed and go straight on the positive ledger.

This graph is going to do so much damage - I hate it when good people distort reality to get their point across.

A fall in job losses is nothing to be proud about - nothing - a fall in the percentage of unemployed - with permanent jobs - is. And that is the only figure that counts - the ONLY FIGURE - and that figure went up last month and is expected to go up again this month.

As for the bush tax cuts - well it should be clear to you all that Republicans don't want a graph showing them that - so why would they even look at it.

(1) The data for graph (1) come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which has used essentially the same procedure to generate them every month for DECADES.

And TRENDS in these data can be expected to be gradual.. The nineteenth century economist Alfred J. Marshall, progenitor of much of modern economics, found this principle to be so important he made it the title-page:epigraph of his "Principles of Economics": "Natura non facit saltum".

(2) Graphs like the summary of CBO's scoring of Dubya's tax cuts and wars versus Obama's short and medium term stimulus are not aimed at Republican propagandists--they're aimed at independent, swing voters.

:thumbsup:

I posted the "bikini" jobs graph on my Facebook page. Within minutes, my right-wing friend (he really is a nice guy; he just happens to have whacked-out political beliefs) offers me the following YouTube video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJu0DgpiK8c ) as some sort of "refudiation" of the graph. See if you can find ANYTHING in it that proves ANYTHING, because I certainly couldn't. All it proved to me was that there's some guy out there who likes to ignore actual data, likes to try to counter actual data with anecdotal "evidence," and has too much time and too many pennies on his hands. Weak.

It was the last item at the end of the show. Chris Hayes of The Nation was sitting in for Rachel, who's on vacation.