The Three kinds of lies, are lies, damned lies, and statistics, according to an anonymous author.
Lies, damned lies, and statistics, are all that comes out of D.C., and most especially when an election draws near. I am writing this on Friday, December 2nd, rather than next week, when this will be posted. Why early? Because this morning, by some sort of miracle, the unemployment rate magically dropped from 9% to 8.6%! Whoopee says the Democrats and Obama. Their influence and instruction worked!
Do we think, for even an instant, that Washington D.C.’s liberals and bureaucrats want to see the Tea Party Conservatives take over their realm, and probably fire a lot of them or whole bureaucracies? Newt wants to get rid of five whole cabinet positions! When the D.C. Gang goes to the polls and votes overwhelmingly Democrat, is it possible that statistics can be juggled to favor the re-election of Obama and his Democrats? Since the economy is the main subject, wouldn’t it be nice if we could lower the rate from 9% to 8.6%? Presto! Done!
5,000 post office employees lost their jobs and 20,000 local government workers lost theirs, plus thousands and thousands of others lost their jobs last month. Federal employees haven’t lost, because they are not only paid double what private employers pay doing the same work, but it’s virtually impossible to fire a federal worker. Tens of thousands lost their jobs everywhere, and the rate magically went from 9% to 8.6%. Fox News stated that it is because 315,000 gave up trying to get a job, and that would explain some of it, and maybe holiday tempo hires accounts for more, of the supposedly 120,000 new jobs created last month. Nuts.
The actual unemployment figure is probably 15%, not 8.6%, it the truth be known.
Governments always invent statistics to make themselves look good. Inflation? “Why we have hardly any inflation,” says the government. This, in spite of the fact that gasoline and food have gone up about 30% in the last year and a half. We’re always ’winning’ wars, till we give up in defeat, as for instance Korea and Vietnam. A previous Mayor of D.C. said once that the crime rate in D.C. wasn’t bad at all, as long as you didn’t consider the murders. D.C. is the absolute capital of lies, damned lies, fake statistics, and also murders, not to mention corruption, payoffs, lobbying, and an endless list of horrors.
You figure. Every Thursday, the figure of new applicants for unemployment welfare handouts are listed, and it’s averaging 400,000 a WEEK. A month’s new applicants makes one million, six hundred thousand. And since supposedly 120,000 new jobs were created while 1,600,000 new applicants filed, the figure went from 9% to 8.6%??? Give me a break!
MENTION?
While I was writing this, I received a call from a nice fellow who complimented me on our reputation, an A plus Better Business Bureau rating, etc. He wanted to know if I would be interested in having a famous female talk show host (I won’t mention her name) mention Colorado Gold as a great place to buy metals. I, of course said “fine.” Then I asked if this would involve a fee? “Yes it would,” was the reply. I asked how much, and he said “Probably $150,000.” The conversation ended pretty quickly of course, but I began to think of all the TV ads and radio ads for precious metals dealers, and believe me they run into the tens and tens of millions per year. I know of one who has an advertising budget of $20 million a year. I can only imagine how much it would cost to advertise on Rush Limbaugh’s show or Glenn Beck. Before I hung up, I told him we use my columns, reputation, and word of mouth, rather than advertising. Who do you suppose pays for those tens of millions of dollars in advertising? Maybe that’s why we are cheaper than 99% of dealers, and brokers, and have a grea reputation! Protect yourself!
Last column till a week from today. I have a “Bucket List,” and one of the items on list is to go to the Metropolitan Opera in New Your City. So, we’re going! Going to see La Boheme on Thursday, and we’ll take in the Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall too. So I’ll be ’out of office’ on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Call my kids or Morgen!