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RUSH: Now, this spin — we got these sound bites coming up — US News & World Report, ‘Why a Rising Unemployment Rate is Good News’, by Rick Newman. And the theory is, ‘It’s so exciting out there! People are looking for work now! They’re willing to be counted again!’ How do they know more people are looking for work? How do we know this? Because somebody at Newsweek says it? Because Obama says so? Couldn’t these just be people who got knocked off unemployment when the benefits ran out (unintelligible) before last? How do we know more people are looking for work?

In the AP story, ‘Jobs up 290,000’ — In the private sector, the real number is 66,000, not 290. ‘Jobs up 290,000; jobless rate rises to 9.9 pct.’ State-Controlled AP tries really hard to start off here with great news, but if you keep reading, which I always do, the last half of the AP article is very bad news. And three to four years ago, the last half of this article would have been the lead if George W. Bush were the president. Here’s a quote at the end of the article: ‘All told, 15.3 million people were out of work in April.’ You take a look at a chart of employment, unemployment, from any… it’s horrible. There’s no good news at all, folks, in this cycle. It has been since the Great Depression that we’ve had this kind of problem, and it looks this bad on a chart. Very rarely do I wish this were a television show, but I wish this were a show so I could show you this chart because it would dispel all of the myths here about how great the employment news is today.

‘Counting people who have given up looking for work and part-timers who would prefer to be working full time, the so-called underemployment rate rose to 17.1 in April.’ This you read in the second half of the AP story. ‘That’s close to the record high of 17.4 percent in October and shows just how difficult it is for jobseekers to find work. Another grim statistic:’ — from the second half of the AP story: — ‘The number of people out of work six months or longer reached 6.7 million in April, a new high.’ So we’ve got all kinds of bad records being set in April, and yet the lead is, (paraphrase) ‘290,000 new jobs, unemployment up to 9.9%, the economy’s turned a corner, we’re back from the brink.’ And there’s also a section in the second half of the story about wages and how they aren’t anything to write home about. So the truth is the truth, and this is the place for it, we disseminate it.


BREAK TRANSCRIPT

All right, here are the audio sound bites, ladies and gentlemen. This is Obama this morning outside the White House.

OBAMA: From the first days of this administration amidst the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression I’ve said that the truest measure of progress would be whether or not we were creating jobs. Today I’m happy to report that we’ve received encouraging news. In April the economy added 290,000 jobs with the majority coming from the private sector. This is the largest monthly increase in four years.

RUSH: From the Associated Press story that, again, the first half of which regales this news as Obama just did, it’s great, it’s the best news in four years, why, we’re back. ‘High unemployment and sluggish wage gains are likely to prevent consumers from going on spending sprees any time soon. Small businesses, which usually help drive job creation during recoveries, are having trouble getting loans. That tight credit is crimping their ability to expand operations and hire. … Many economists think it will take until at least the middle of the decade to lower the unemployment rate to a more normal 5.5 percent to 6 percent.’ Lawrence Summers, one of President Obama’s economic advisors said back on April 30th, ‘This is the new norm.’ Nine to 10% unemployment is the new norm. Learn it, love it, live it, get used to it. Obama is going to have to create another 6.6 million jobs to get us back to where we were four years ago. He can start pounding the table here, 290,000, which 66,000 are actually private sector.

I know I never criticize Customs. Not once did I criticize Customs yesterday. I went out of my way to praise these people. I’ve only had one bad encounter with a couple of them here in Palm Beach and everybody knows about that so I don’t go to Palm Beach anymore when I have to go to Customs, I avoid it like the blue plague. Everywhere else I go they’re nice as they can be, thorough, professional. The only question I asked yesterday was how come we’re not being told what the Customs guys did? Everybody was asking me and I said, ‘What does it matter?’ ‘Well, it matters, Rush, because the administration is trying to hide something from us.’ Okay, well, fine. What’s new about that? Here’s the next sound bite. This is Obama putting forward this notion that higher unemployment is a sign of progress.

OBAMA: The unemployment rate ticked up slightly from 9.7 to 9.9. Given the strength of these job numbers, this may seem contradictory but this increase is largely a reflection of the fact that workers who had dropped out of the workforce entirely are now seeking jobs again, encouraged by better prospects.

RUSH: How do we know this? How do we know this? Again, counting people who have given up looking for work and part-timers who would prefer to be working full time, the so-called underemployment rate rose to 17.1% in April. That’s close to the record high of 17.4% underemployment in October, and it shows just how difficult it is for job seekers to find work. And yet, man, it’s so exciting out there, people can’t wait, they’re getting back in the job market, they’re really encouraged out there by better prospects. Another grim statistic, the number of people out of work six months or longer reached 6.7 million in April. That is a new high. These people made up 45.9% of all unemployed people, also a record high.

So you read the whole AP story, and you find out that we’re looking at chronic unemployment, and it is not improving, there’s no reason to celebrate here, and there’s been nothing done to create an overwhelming market of job creation. Just the exact opposite. We’re no different than Greece. We’re not doing anything to spur job creation in the private sector. And if they want to credit the stimulus for this, if they want to try, fine, okay, you guys go ahead, you credit the stimulus. Never before has so much been spent to create so little as Barack Obama’s stimulus plan to create jobs. Look, you know me, I’m not saying all this to be partisan, critical of back home, but these guys are out there trying to paint a picture here that doesn’t exist, it’s not right, and all of this, don’t forget, all of this is simply whipping up the argument for higher taxes, which is coming down the pike. Here’s another sound bite. This is Obama addressing the market and the crisis in Greece.

OBAMA: I want to speak to the unusual market activity that took place yesterday on Wall Street. The regulatory authorities are evaluating this closely with a concern for protecting investors and preventing this from happening again. And they will make findings of their review public along with recommendations for appropriate action. I also spoke this morning with German Chancellor Merkel regarding economic and financial developments in Europe. We agreed on the importance of a strong policy response by the affected countries and a strong financial response from the international community. I made clear that the United States supports these efforts and will continue to cooperate.

RUSH: Yeah, what are those efforts? What did Merkel do yesterday? Merkel joined in in bashing the banks. Merkel joined in in bashing the private sector. That’s why Obama’s happy. Make no mistake about what’s going on here, folks. The communists, the anarchists are getting what they want. They are driving down the financial market. There’s an all-out assault on capitalism all over the world. That’s why Obama’s happy about this, and he’s happy to welcome Angela Merkel here to the little party that they’re having. So here we are, for Obama, 9.9% is success. That’s the bottom line. Obama can spin it all he wants, 9.9% unemployment is great news to Obama. Let’s put the headline out there. ‘Obama: Great News, 9.9% Unemployment.’ The American people should take note the White House had a celebration today. Obama went out and took credit for 9.9% unemployment. Okay, so the Democrats and Obama in November can run on 9.9% unemployment as a great accomplishment. And maybe someday Obama can tell us where he thinks Greece went wrong.

I want to hear Obama tell us, where did Greece go wrong? Did they not tax the rich enough? Did the government not grow big enough? Did they not have enough public sector union people? Did they wait too long to go nationalize on their health care? What did they do wrong? So you Democrats, you’re all happy, your president goes out there today, sings the praises, 9.9% unemployment. So I guess if we get to 10% unemployment in August, you’ll really be happy, I mean the streets will be filled with joy because the definition of success, according to our own regime, is rising unemployment, 9.9%.

Christina Romer, this is on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, she is the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. Erin Burnett said, ‘The unemployment rate is climbing, I guess because more people seeing hiring going on re-enter the job market?’

ROMER: Absolutely. It’s something we’ve, again, been anticipating, that a lot of people in a recession this bad drop out of the labor force, a sort of natural part of the recovery. As we start to add jobs, those people come back in. And we had some 800,000 workers come back into the labor force in April. So that is certainly a consequence of that is that the unemployment rate did tick up.

RUSH: Yeah, goes up to 10%, even better, right, because more people are looking for work and are willing to be counted again as out of work. So remember, and this is from the regime’s own wire service, AP, ‘counting people who have given up looking for work and counting part-timers who would prefer to be working full time, the so-called underemployment rate rose to 17.1%.’ So the unemployment rate rose to 9.9%. The underemployment rate rose to 17.1% in April, close to the record high of 17.4% in October, and shows just how difficult it is for job seekers to find work. They’re celebrating people starting to look again, not celebrating people finding jobs. Another statistic: the number of people out of work six months or longer reached 6.7 million in April. That’s a new high. So 15.3 million people out of work in April, unemployment, 9.7 to 9.9%. Underemployment rose to 17.1%. The number of people out of work six months or longer reached 6.7 million in April, a new high, and the regime threw a party outside the White House this morning.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here is a montage, by the way, just to show you how the coordination with the regime and the State-Controlled Media works. Real Pravda type stuff here. This is a montage of all the State-Run Media repeating the mantra that unemployment went up, a good sign because more people are looking for work.

STUART VARNEY: Workers flooded back into the labor market and pushed the unemployment rate up to 9.9%.

PETER COOK: (outdoor noise) That unemployment rate hitting nine point nine percent moving higher. It reflects more Americans trying to go out and find a job right now.

PETER BARNES: (outdoor noise) We saw a huge jump in the number of people who previously were out of the work force and wanted to get back in and start looking for work.

BILL HEMMER: The unemployment rate is up in April, hitting almost double digits, 9.9%, more than 800,000 Americans jumping back into the market.

JENNA LEE: Unemployment rate also moving higher to 9.9%. Now, that can mean that there’s actually more people entering the labor force looking for work and that could actually be a positive sign.

RUSH: There you have it. Or it could not be, but this is how it’s being spun. A lot of that was even the Fox News Channel, some of that was even the Fox Business Network.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Bob in Minneapolis, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hello, it’s a privilege to talk with you. I’ve been trying to get through for about 15 years.

RUSH: Here you are.

CALLER: And here I am. Today’s the day. I got a comment on the unemployment rate, but first, I got introduced to you in 1992 right after Clinton was elected.

RUSH: Oh, yeah.

CALLER: I was serving on a submarine in the Pacific Ocean, and part of being on a missile submarine is you have to continually monitor communications. So we had the advantage of capturing radio signals as well. And our commanding officer, while I was up in control driving the submarine, he’d buzz me, and he’d say, ‘Come right ten degrees,’ so I’d take the submarine right ten degrees, and then he’d buzz me a little bit later and it would be, ‘Come left ten degrees,’ and we finally figured out what he was doing. He was tuning the antenna to pick up your radio show.

RUSH: (laughing) Really?

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: Out in the Pacific?

CALLER: In the Pacific. So for three hours a day we drove to capture Rush.

RUSH: That is amazing. What a story. What a great story.

CALLER: It was great. And I’ve been listening to you ever since.

RUSH: Thank you very much. You probably can’t identify the ship because it’s nuclear, right?

CALLER: It was a nuclear submarine.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: Ballistic missile submarine, I’m sure we weren’t the only ones, but it was a good time. I’ve since retired from the Navy and here I am.

RUSH: Well, I once got a tour in Pearl Harbor of the USS Indianapolis which was a nuclear sub, and I asked to see the water desalination, ‘Oh, no sir, we’d love to but we can’t show you the reactor.’ Oh, I’m sorry I asked. It was obviously a very secure area. But you people that serve on submarines are a unique breed.

CALLER: That’s one word for it, that’s for sure.

RUSH: No question.

CALLER: Here’s on the unemployment rate. Here’s something that’s just an observation and maybe it’s connecting some dots, but yes, the people are out looking for work, right before recess for Congress we just extended unemployment benefits for those that previously had tapped out or maxed out of their unemployment benefits, and I’m sure some of those are running back for more. Thus the numbers go up.

RUSH: A-ha. So let me make sure I understand this. You think the only reason they’re back looking is because benefits have expired?

CALLER: Their benefits had expired, and within the last six weeks —

RUSH: They’ve been restored.

CALLER: — they’ve been restored and extended to a longer time frame.

RUSH: So they’ll stop looking now?

CALLER: Well, they did stop looking because they had maxed out on the number of weeks they could collect.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: And now there’s a longer timeline they can collect so it’s back to the line again.

RUSH: Interesting point. You’re a mathematics guy, aren’t you?

CALLER: I’m definitely an engineer type.

RUSH: Yeah. Yeah. It takes somebody like you to figure that out. I’m glad you called. This has been a great call. You have made my day, a submarine being steered in the Pacific Ocean to capture the EIB Network. Yes! Gosh, I love the military. I just do.

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