Article on The Huffington Post
This heavily-biased and frankly misleading article comes from the opposite end of the political spectrum, on the liberal side. Granted, the author is very upfront in his dishonesty when he names his primary source as the Economic Policy Institute, as "the liberal Washington think tank".
The author starts with what is supposed to be a powerful statistic: "...just 25.9 percent of jobless workers were receiving unemployment insurance, the lowest rate since 1987." The addition of the word "just", and the inclusion of which year the rate was also this low, are meant to convey to the reader that this number is terribly lower than what it should be. Could this number result from the drastic improvements the job market has seen in recent years? Or could it be because unemployment insurance does in fact have an end date on it, and that a number of beneficiaries coverage has merely expired? Oh no dear reader, the author is here to set you straight: "The so-called recipiency rate has declined not because of the economy's improvement, but because of deliberate decisions by state and federal policymakers."
The author goes on to back up this statement with quoting a blog post of all sources, with the blogger of course being from the same Economic Policy Institute cited earlier. The author continues to explain that yes, Congress did cut back on benefits as the economy improved, because that is the logical thing for Congress to do once the benefits are no longer necessary. He then specifically targets Republican lawmakers in seven states, as an example of exactly who is to blame for cutting back on a program that is meant to provide relief in dire economic conditions.
The icing on the cake of misdirection that is this article has to be in the last part: "The number of long-term jobless, defined as those out of work at least six months, is falling fast but remains higher than at any other time since 1948." Another comparison in statistics with a past year that is completely out of context. Of course there is a higher number of long term jobless today versus 1948, because the population of the US (and therefore the number of jobless people) is much higher than it was in 1948. It's like pointing out that the sun is brighter at 3pm versus 8 pm.
Very informative post! It seems that both you and I have written some good articles on bias in the media. Its always fascinating to go through a written story and pick out the parts where someone is being biased. Its much easier to do in print than on TV because print has permanence, you can read and reread as much as you want.
ReplyDeleteYou make a very good point about the population differences. Arguments like that are ridiculous and I'm glad you called it out!