RUSH: I’m trying to figure out something. I listened to this sound bite, the media montage of George Stephanopoulos and all the others on it going orgasmic about the economic recovery, and the things that they’re saying. “Machine gunfire of good economic reports.” “We finally hit bottom.” “This recovery is really taking hold.” “Another sign the real estate market could be improving.”
And I’m asking myself: What did I miss?
Seriously.
There has to be something that they are anchoring this to.
What happened?
So I started scouring. I started looking around for things. I only found one thing that could possibly suffice as providing them the data to report such things, and it’s an AP story. “Has US Economy Bottomed Out? Census Suggests Yes.” Census? In fact, there are two things. The AP has this little thing that they send down the wire every day called, “Ten Things to Know for Today.” On September 20th, today, the number one thing for AP readers to know is, “THE WORST MAY BE OVER! New census numbers suggest that the US economy has bottomed out.”
Okay, so, that’s the most important story today AP, right? The census. I found it. I went out there and I got it. I have it here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers. “[T]he US economy is showing signs of finally bottoming out. Americans are on the move again after putting their lives on hold and staying put. More young adults are leaving their parents’ homes to take a chance with college or the job market, while once-sharp declines in births are leveling off and poverty is slowing.”
Really? The census numbers tell us this, not the economic numbers? That’s right, folks. You see, it’s new 2011 census data. That’s the most current data we go by. You talk about a stretch and a reach! I mean, this is comical. It’s laughable, ridiculous. “New 2011 census figures offer glimmers of hope in an economic recovery that technically began in mid-2009. … Not all is well,” AP writes. “The jobless rate remains high at 8.1%.”
Oh, it came down two-tenths of a percent, see, because fewer people are looking for work. “[H]ome ownership last year dropped for a fifth straight year to 64.6%, the lowest in more than a decade, due to stringent financing rules and a shift to renting. More Americans than ever are turning to food stamps…” Listen to this, now. Here’s the headline: “Has US Economy Bottomed Out? Census Suggests Yes.” Opening paragraph: “US economy is showing signs of finally bottoming out. Americans are on the move again…”
So the whole reason for economic recovery is based on people moving, according to census data from last year. But to cover themselves, AP says, “Not all is well.” Now, remember the headline: “Has US Economy Bottomed Out? Census Suggests Yes.” Clearly they want you to think we’re roaring back. We bottomed out. We’ve hit bottom; we’re turning back. We’re coming back. However, “Not all is well. The jobless rate remains high at 8.1%. …
“[H]ome ownership last year dropped for a fifth straight year to 64.6%, the lowest in more than a decade… More Americans than ever are turning to food stamps, while residents in housing that is considered ‘crowded’ held steady at 1%…” So you see the new norm? The new norm is: Life sucks. But if you are moving, then we got an economic recovery going on. This is malpractice. This is journalistic malpractice.
It is lying, and it’s dumb. Stupid. Census data from a year ago solely related to the fact that people are on the move…? And, by the way, what percentage of people are on the move? Well, let’s see. How many people are on the move here? Let’s see… Why, it’s a fraction of a fraction! The analysis cites a fraction-of-a-fraction increase in the number of people who’ve moved. Like, it’s not even 1%.
This is a totally manufactured, made-up story using never before used criteria in the face of evidence that shows the economy continuing to shrink, contract, and slow down. These irresponsible journalists — well, these irresponsible people at AP — lie through their teeth and their keyboards right to your face. Because a handful of people are moving, that must mean the economy bottomed out. That must mean the recovery is roaring.
If there were a Republican in the White House, this story would be all about the fact that this economy has descended now into a full-blown depression, and that 8.1% number would never be seen. They’d report it as what it really is: 11.5%. “Taken as a whole, however, analysts say the census data … provide the latest evidence of a stabilizing US economy.” Stabilizing? Wait, I thought it was coming back. These are same economists that are wrong week after week and month after month about the unemployment rate.
These are the same economists who always say, “Prosperity is just around the corner,” now that there’s a Democrat in the White House. Obviously, folks, this is it. Grab sound bite number two. I just told you about the Census Bureau finding a fraction of a fraction of a percentage point of people moving while the economic data continues to show a shrinking, contracting, slowing economy. The fact that the Census Bureau’s one-year-old data on people moving begot this yesterday and today in the media.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The big headlines on the economy this morning: are we on the road to recovery?
VARGAS: There’s great news out this morning on the economy. Are we really turning a corner?
GOLODRYGA: Great news. It looks like this recovery really has legs.
O’DONNELL: The economic downturn may have bottomed out.
WESTHOVEN: It was like machine gunfire of good economic reports.
KOSIK: We finally hit a bottom, that you’re seeing this recovery really take hold.
COSTELLO: Breaking news into the newsroom, another sign that the real estate market could be improving.
RUSH: Whoa, whoa, whoa! AP: “[H]ome ownership last year dropped for a fifth straight year to 64.6 percent, the lowest in more than a decade.” We’re in a depression, people at CNN! That was Carol Costello, I think. Yup. See, I don’t know whether she is knowingly lying or she just doesn’t know, if she just doesn’t get. It doesn’t really matter, either, but it does interest me. How can people be so stupid? I marvel at that. See, I think you have to work at being that ignorant.
If you’re gonna work at being ignorant, why not work at being informed?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here’s the money quote in the AP story, ladies and gentlemen, that I think has caused the media to report that, “Hey, it’s over. We’re roaring back. I mean, it is bango, it’s boffo out there.” Here’s the money quote in that AP story. “As a whole, Americans were slowly finding ways to get back on the move. About 12 percent of the nation’s population, or 36.5 million, moved to a new home, up from a record low of 11.6 percent in 2011.”
So 12% versus 11.6% the previous year, four-tenths of a percentage point difference in the number of people who moved has led to the conclusion that there is a full-fledged, full-blown economic recovery taking place out there. That’s it. I scoured it. I looked at it. I heard that sound bite. Cookie gave me the sound bite, I said, “What the hell are they talking about?” I knew ’cause I had predicted it, that they were gonna try to make this case, but it was gonna have to anchored to something. You can’t just make it up out of whole cloth. There has to be something out there, unemployment report, something. It’s the census. And the fact that four-tenths of a percentage point more people moved last year, not this year.
“Among young adults 25 to 29, the most mobile age group, moves also increased to 24.6 percent from a low of 24.1%.” That’s one half of one percentage point change, 24.6 to 24.1. That’s a .5 or 0.5% increase. Not even a full point. They’re going gaga over this. “Less willing to rely on parents, roughly 5.6 million Americans ages 25-34, or 13.6 percent, lived with Mom and Dad, a decrease from 14.2 percent in the previous year.” So that’s a .6% difference. Folks, this is clutching at straws. This is wishful thing. It’s journalistic malpractice.
It is nonexistent news. It is specifically written, produced, and disseminated to affect the outcome of the election. They don’t care what they have to report in the months afterwards. It doesn’t matter. So they add this to the polls that have a Democrat plus-13 sample. Add this to all the distorted news about Romney and the 47%. Add this to all the news about the video setting fire to the Middle East. Now the economy is coming back. This is it, and it was all predictable. So I don’t want anybody getting depressed.
I want you mad. I want you offended and livid about this. I want you beside yourself that your intelligence is insulted in this way. And I don’t want you to accept any of this. This is worse than it has ever been, and it’s worse than I’ve ever seen.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Yep, it’s a Census Bureau story, and here comes TheHill.com. “Housing Market Showing Broader Signs of Improvement.” You know what’s happening? So much value has been lost in the housing market that people are now buying. If there’s any activity in the housing market, it’s because values have plummeted to such depths that the 47% can now afford to live in a government-purchased house, or something like that.