RUSH: It is amazing. Right on schedule, ladies and gentlemen — here as this program begins — is the GDP for the third quarter, as I predicted, being revised downward. Obama strolls to the microphone with the prime minister of India and a joint press conference right as this program starts. But I’m not worried about it, ladies and gentlemen, because I know that I have more drawing power than either of these guys, particularly Obama. The country may be interested in hearing what the Indian guy has to say, but Obama? They’re tired of it.
Greetings great to have you here. Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network, and the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
Yes, back on October 29th on this program, I said this: ”I want to take another stab at this GDP thing,’ because checking e-mail during the break I heard, ‘What do you mean, Rush? You’ve never said that Gross Domestic Product increases in the past were fake! You’re just anti-Obama.’ No, no, no, no, no. I am anti-Obama, but don’t you find this suspicious right before some elections hit next week? You know that this number is going to be revised downward later this month, and nobody’s going to pay any attention to it,’ and it has been revised downward, I’m talking about the GDP number. Everybody went nuts! ‘All right, the recovery is on! The recession is over! GDP 3.5%.’ Ah, ah, ah, ah! It’s been revised downward now to 2.8%, ‘seasonally adjusted.’ This always happens. It’s easy to predict. The media is not making a big deal of it. It’s just the normal flow of events. Once again GDP equals CIG: Consumption by the Public, Investment by business, and Government spending. CIG.
There has been no increase in consumption by consumers. There has been no increase in business investment. There have been big increases in government spending. And so the GDP is growing but it’s all growing in government. That’s not good because that’s not where private sector jobs are created. So anyway, stocks are opening a little down. They’re minus 50 or so last time I checked. Then this story. Now, see, this is why, folks, you are very fortunate to have me as your host. I have here a story by Hibah Yousuf, CNNmoney.com staff reporter. The headline: ‘Consumers More Optimistic About Recovery.’ Subheadline: ‘Conference Board’s reading for consumer confidence rises in November, but outlook on present situation remains downbeat.’ If you are just a headline reader then you will look at this and you’ll think, ‘Hey, hey, it’s all good, man! Oh, man, my neighbor is getting positive! My neighbor has all kinds of new confidence on the economy; maybe I should have some, too.’ But then if you read the story, you will learn how bad it really is out there.
Let me illustrate this as only I can: ‘A key measure of consumer confidence gained slightly in November.’ Headline: ‘Consumers More Optimistic About Recovery.’ First line: ‘Confidence gained slightly in November, snapping a two-month declining streak, a research group said Tuesday. The Conference Board, the New York-based research group, said its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 49.5 in November from an upwardly revised 48.7 in October.’ Now, normally the reading is above 90. All throughout the first eight years of this decade, the reading was in the nineties, approaching a hundred — and as they indicate in this story the overall index remains at ‘historically low levels.’ But you have to read deep to get there, and that’s what I do: I read deep and I read between the lines for you. ‘The overall index remains at historically low levels. A reading above 90 indicates the economy is solid, and 100 or above signals strong growth.’ And where are we? Forty-nine point five, historically low.
‘Consumers’ assessment of the job market also continued to deteriorate.’ Remember the headline: ‘Consumers More Optimistic About Recovery.’ ‘Consumers’ assessment of the job market also continued to deteriorate. The percentage of those claiming that jobs are currently hard to get reached a new high of 49.8%…’ Let’s see. Well, that’s higher than the confidence number. How do you explain that? The confidence number is 49.5% and the people who think it’s really hard getting a job out there, 49.8%. ‘… while the number of consumers claiming that jobs are ‘plentiful’ hit a new low at 3.2%.’ So 3.2% of American people, consumers, think that jobs are plentiful. I don’t even know what that means. Not even I, El Rushbo, can find any way to relate to that. Jobs are ‘plentiful,’ 3.2% of the people think? Who are they? Who would you think 3.2% of the people who think jobs are plentiful are? The margin of error is right, ’cause the real number has to be zero. ‘The percentage of consumers expecting their incomes to increase declined to 10% from 10.7%,’ yet the headline: ‘Consumers More Optimistic About Recovery.’
‘Despite their current outlook, however, consumers are optimistic about a recovery. The expectation index, which measures consumers’ outlook over the next few months, climbed to 68.5 from 67 last month. … Likewise, the percentage of consumers expecting an improvement in business conditions over the next six months dropped to 20% from 20.8%,’ but they’re optimistic about a recovery out there. So it’s more gibberish from the State-Controlled Media, CNN, with a headline followed by a story that makes literally no sense compared to the headline.