Kirsten Powers Rips Virtual Media Blackout of Gosnell Trial
In a USA Today column Thursday evening, liberal Fox News political analyst Kirsten Powers took the establishment press to task for its failure to give more than cursory attention to the trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Life News reminded its readers today that Gosnell "faces 43 criminal counts, including eight counts of murder in the death of one patient, Karnamaya Monger, and seven newborn infants." It excerpted an Associated Press story earlier today which may be a harbinger of a long overdue change in the amount and scope of trial coverage. We'll see.
If there's a change, it may partially be because of sharp criticisms leveled by Powers (links are in original; bolds are mine):
Five States to Tax Guns, Three Networks Silent
On April 8, President Obama spoke yet again on the issue of gun violence in Connecticut, only an hour away from the Newtown massacre. NBC, ABC, and CBS all ran stories on this speech. While the media have continually attacked the gun industry and promoted stricter gun control than even the administration, they conveniently ignored new tax plans being implemented and proposed in five different states.
These taxes will raise the price on guns and ammo, punishing law-abiding citizens for their gun ownership, and ultimately make it harder to exercise Second Amendment rights.
Priorities: USA Today Print Edition Puts Thatcher Coverage Below the Fold on Page 1
Coverage of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's death and life was relegated to below the fold at USA Today this morning (pictured here; the paper stopped post front-page pics two years ago).
Three items above the fold (excluding left-side teases to coverage of other stories) were considered more important that the Iron Lady's passing: "Remembering Annette Funicello"; a "Duplicate programs waste billions" item about wasteful government spending (useful, but it's not as if we didn't know this already); and to top it off, a 6x6 photo from the first half of the NCAA men's basketball finals, the result of which the paper was unable to report because the game ended after its publication deadline.
Comcast Bans Gun and Ammo Ads Following NBCUniversal Purchase
The Comcast Corporation, sole owner of NBCUniversal now, recently made the decision to refuse advertising from gun stores and ammunition manufacturers. Operating in 39 states and the District of Columbia, it is by far the largest cable company in the country. What's more, it holds a regional monopoly on cable TV in a multitude of markets, meaning it's the only affordable televised commercial access that many gun stores have.
The blanket directive was issued just as soon as its purchase of NBCUniversal was finalized, which has had a long-standing policy against gun-related ads on its networks.
As our readers are well aware of by now, their so-called cable 'news' outlet MSNBC has consistently expressed strong opinions on the subject of gun control, without much of an opportunity to present counter-arguments. Hosts like Al Sharpton, Chris Matthews, Martin Bashir, etc. have gone out of their way to demonize the NRA and gun owners in general.
Of course, NBCUniversal has made millions off of movies and TV shows where gun play is prominent, so the move to ban ads by gun stores catering to law abiding citizens is highly hypocritical.
Comcast isn't alone among corporate cable outlets to ban such ads. The nation's second biggest cable provider, Time Warner announced in mid-January that it would no longer air ads with semiautomatic weapons in them. Cox Communications had already imposed restrictions before the Newtown massacre occurred. The irony of this approach certainly appears to be lost on all of them.
As big as they are - Comcast, Time Warner and Cox won't lose much (if any) revenue, but gun control advocates still call Comcast's decision a "brave move." With few other options available to them and none as pervasive, local gun store owners and ammo dealers are sure to feel the economic sting though.
"Frankly, I'm a little confused," Indiana gun store owner Rick Oliver told reporter Jessica Contrera of the Journal and Courier. The co-owner of Haley's Lodge, a gun and ammunition dealer in Lafayette, Indiana had no idea why his money wasn't good anymore. "I've been running TV ads for 30 years, but if they don't want my money, I'll take it elsewhere."
Another gun store manager in Indiana, Greg Hasek, sees a different double standard at play. One that is unfairly singling out an industry, while inexplicably giving others a pass. Marketers of alcoholic beverages and junk food are allowed to do as they please, despite the death toll and high health care costs attributable to drunk driving and obesity.
Then again, who knows, maybe they are next on the target list, although one imagines their advertising comprises too large of a market share to write them off in a fit of political pique.
Comcast Bans Gun and Ammo Ads Following NBCUniversal Purchase
The Comcast Corporation, sole owner of NBCUniversal now, recently made the decision to refuse advertising from gun stores and ammunition manufacturers. Operating in 39 states and the District of Columbia, it is by far the largest cable company in the country. What's more, it holds a regional monopoly on cable TV in a multitude of markets, meaning it's the only affordable televised commercial access that many gun stores have.
The blanket directive was issued just as soon as its purchase of NBCUniversal was finalized, which has had a long-standing policy against gun-related ads on its networks.
As our readers are well aware of by now, their so-called cable 'news' outlet MSNBC has consistently expressed strong opinions on the subject of gun control, without much of an opportunity to present counter-arguments. Hosts like Al Sharpton, Chris Matthews, Martin Bashir, etc. have gone out of their way to demonize the NRA and gun owners in general.
Of course, NBCUniversal has made millions off of movies and TV shows where gun play is prominent, so the move to ban ads by gun stores catering to law abiding citizens is highly hypocritical.
Comcast isn't alone among corporate cable outlets to ban such ads. The nation's second biggest cable provider, Time Warner announced in mid-January that it would no longer air ads with semiautomatic weapons in them. Cox Communications had already imposed restrictions before the Newtown massacre occurred. The irony of this approach certainly appears to be lost on all of them.
As big as they are - Comcast, Time Warner and Cox won't lose much (if any) revenue, but gun control advocates still call Comcast's decision a "brave move." With few other options available to them and none as pervasive, local gun store owners and ammo dealers are sure to feel the economic sting though.
"Frankly, I'm a little confused," Indiana gun store owner Rick Oliver told reporter Jessica Contrera of the Journal and Courier. The co-owner of Haley's Lodge, a gun and ammunition dealer in Lafayette, Indiana had no idea why his money wasn't good anymore. "I've been running TV ads for 30 years, but if they don't want my money, I'll take it elsewhere."
Another gun store manager in Indiana, Greg Hasek, sees a different double standard at play. One that is unfairly singling out an industry, while inexplicably giving others a pass. Marketers of alcoholic beverages and junk food are allowed to do as they please, despite the death toll and high health care costs attributable to drunk driving and obesity.
Then again, who knows, maybe they are next on the target list, although one imagines their advertising comprises too large of a market share to write them off in a fit of political pique.
Press Ignores, Minimizes Concerns in Fed’s Beige Book About ObamaCare’s Effects on Sales, Employment, and Costs
Today, on the third anniversary of the enactment of state-managed healthcare, aka the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka ObamaCare, it's worth noting a precursor of what we can expect from the establishment press as the law's implementation presses on. It can be summed up in eight words: "Hype the alleged good. Ignore the obviously bad." Distilled in four words: "Toe the administration line."
Two examples of how the press is ignoring the obviously bad came from the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, in its March 6 caoverage of the contents of the Federal Reserve's "beige book" released that day. The Fed's report contained five specific comments, four of them negative and one neutral, about the current and imminent impact of ObamaCare. None made it into either AP report. Many other outlets also ignored or minimized those comments.
Press Ignores, Minimizes Concerns in Fed’s Beige Book About ObamaCare’s Effects on Sales, Employment, and Costs
Today, on the third anniversary of the enactment of state-managed healthcare, aka the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka ObamaCare, it's worth noting a precursor of what we can expect from the establishment press as the law's implementation presses on. It can be summed up in eight words: "Hype the alleged good. Ignore the obviously bad." Distilled in four words: "Toe the administration line."
Two examples of how the press is ignoring the obviously bad came from the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, in its March 6 caoverage of the contents of the Federal Reserve's "beige book" released that day. The Fed's report contained five specific comments, four of them negative and one neutral, about the current and imminent impact of ObamaCare. None made it into either AP report. Many other outlets also ignored or minimized those comments.
USA Today Hypes Anti-Gun Study by Lefty Advocacy Group on Front Page
USA Today highlighted a study on gun violence, giving it top billing on its front page March 5. The headline read: “Gun Violence Annual Cost: $12 Billion.” But the USA Today story didn’t give any indication of the left-wing inclinations of the group behind that study.
The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, or PIRE, is a Maryland based advocacy group that is anti-alcohol, anti-tobacco, and in its latest study, anti-gun. The $28 million non-profit organization is also financially connected to left-wing donor George Soros. PIRE has received funding through the Tides Foundation, which itself is a Soros-funded organization.
USA Today’s Moore Devotes 20 Gushy Paragraphs to Al Jazeera’s New Booming U.S. Operation
"Seven years after it arrived in the U.S., Al Jazeera is putting up its sign," Martha Moore began her February 20 USA Today story, "Al Jazeera makes major U.S. expansion," a 20-paragraph item lacking any critics of the Qatari-government backed network which has a history of anti-Americanism.
"With the $500 million purchase of Current TV from former vice president Al Gore and other investors last year, Al Jazeera bought a place on cable boxes in 41 million homes. Now the network plans to grow from a news operation of 13 people to 200 people working in cities across the country," Moore noted, quoting a "psyched" Bob Wheelock "a former ABC executive now in charge of setting up Al Jazeera America" in the preceding paragraph.
Kirsten Powers Rips Obama’s State of the Union Speech, Fawning Press in USA Today Column
Kirsten Powers is definitely liberal, but not blind.
Here's her take on President Obama's State of the Union speech last night as expressed in her Wednesday USA Today column, with an added bonus of a delicious potshot at the sycophantic press: "It was so hackish, so devoid of any theme or purpose, that it makes one wonder whether part of Obama just wants to see how bad he can be before his cultists in the news media can see it." Obviously, from reaction seen at various NewsBusters posts today (here, here, here, and here), the cultists are still mesmerized. More from Powers's good by hardly error-free column is after the jump (bolds are mine):
CBS Hypes Economic Optimism, Ignores Conflicting Reports
CBS “This Morning” cited an optimistic article about the economy in its “This Morning’s Headlines” roundup of newspaper headlines on February 11, but ignored a pessimistic one from the Wall Street Journal.
The USA Today article cited was a front page story, concisely labeled “Economists Gain Optimism. The Wall Street Journal ran a contradictory front page story that same day entitled “Companies Fret Over Uncertain Outlook,” which was completely ignored. Instead, the Wall Street Journal article that CBS did cite was one entitled “Lonely Hearts Give Flirting 101 a Try” from page A15.
(Video Below)
Corporate Money Didn’t Take Over Politics Post-Citizens United, New Study Shows
Remember the hand-wringing from the Left about how the Citizens United Supreme Court decision was supposed to turn America into a corporate dystopia. The media obligingly amplified those complaints. Well, the December 12 USA Today published an analysis showing minimal corporate participation in this year’s election cycle. In fact, their contributions amounted to roughly 10% of the mega donations doled out in 2012.
Granted, there was a lot of money spent on this cycle. $518 million dollars came from just 150 people, businesses, organizations, or unions, however:
USAT-Carried Report on Crowder Assault, AFP Tent Tear-Down: ‘No Reported Injuries’
Perhaps hoping that readers wouldn't scroll down to peruse what followed, a Tuesday evening Detroit Free Press report by David Jesse and Lori Higgins carried at USA Today featured a video taking up my entire computer screen which consisted entirely of union protesters chanting slogans for 49 seconds.
The pair's actual report carries a misleading headline ("Mich. governor signs anti-union bills after protests") directly contradicted in their dispatch's content ("The right-to-work legislation ... makes it illegal to require financial support of a labor union as a condition of employment"). But it's their description of Tuesday's incident involving Steven Crowder and Americans for Prosperity which is the report's biggest flaw (HT Instapundit):
Jansing & Co. Presents Slanted & Misinformed Take on Michigan’s Right to Work Legislation
Michigan may very well become the 24th state to adopt right-to-work legislation on Tuesday, and liberal media outlets have given its opponents ample opportunity to state their case. While proponents have not been allowed to defend the law at all, MSNBC's Chris Jansing was more than happy to briefly play "devil's advocate" with her guest on Monday -- newly elected state representative Tim Greimel who called right-to-work "too divisive and too extreme for the state."
Following his lengthy diatribe on the subject, in which he also called right-to-work the "surest path to poverty that anybody could pursue here in Michigan," Jansing invited the Washington Post's Dana Milbank and Jackie Kucinich -- daughter of retiring liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) -- of USA Today back on the program to reinforce the argument Greimel made. Hardly a balanced analysis of legislation designed to safeguard an individual's right not be coerced into a union or into financially supporting a union in which he/she is not a member [ video and transcript below ]
Hoax Claiming Walmart Heiress Supported Friday Protests Fools USA Today
The third page of an unbylined report with an early Saturday time stamp credited to "USA Today" carried at the Jackson, Mississippi Clarion Ledger (like USAT, a Gannett Company) claimed that "Walmart heiress Alice Walton expressed solidarity with Walmart's striking workers."
Putting aside whether or not an action taken by what the company estimated may have been fifty associates is a "strike" or a "temper tantrum," the claim was not true. USA Today fell for a hoax. Following the jump are several paragraphs from the Clarion Ledger report and an LA Times writeup identifying the hoax. Additionally, I learned that Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum was the object of Occupy and union movement protests when it opened a year ago.
USA Today Founder’s Entire Family Backed Obama, Daughter Would’ve Left U.S. If Romney Won
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so it’s hardly shocking that the children of a journalist would prefer President Barack Obama’s re-election, but instead of being embarrassed by such stereotype-confirming views, Al Neuharth embraced them and decided to follow their advice in casting his vote – as if there were any doubt.
In his weekly column back on Friday, November 9, the 88-year-old founder of USA Today recounted how his six adopted kids, ranging in ages from 12 to 21, all supported Obama, including “Rafi, 12,” who “said Romney wants to ‘take from the poor and give to the rich’” and “Ariana, 14,” who “said if Romney wins, she wants to leave the USA and move to her second favorite country -- the Netherlands.”
Just in Time for Election, Media Forecast Falling Gas Prices
Up or down, the media often hype changing gas prices, in spite of a long track record of incorrect predictions. But the most recent forecast stands to benefit media favorite: President Barack Obama.
In recent months, all three broadcast news networks and the USA Today have offered predictions ahead of the presidential election, saying prices would be much lower by late November: after the election.
Media Still in Love With War on Soda
CPSI continued to wage war on soda and sugary beverages. In a new ad campaign they launched called TheRealBears.org, CPSI hired ad guru Bruce Horovitz to construct an animation that parodied the Coca-Cola polar bears. It’s just the latest attack as part of the group’s longstanding crusade against soda. The difference this time is the attention USA Today paid to it.
USA Today Shocker: ‘Obama, Romney Nearly Tied in Electoral College’
If you've been paying attention to the Drudge Report lately, you've seen headlines linking to Real Clear Politics data showing how the presidential race has tightened since President Obama and Mitt Romney debated in Denver.
Rather surprisingly, the folks at USA Today not only noticed, but also published an article Sunday with the shocking headline, "Obama, Romney Nearly Tied in Electoral College'':
USA Today: ‘Housing Starts, Jobless Claims in Good Shape’ Despite Worsening Numbers
USA Today's Web site features an Associated Press report with the headline "Housing starts, jobless claims in good shape." For the many readers who just scan headlines, that sounds encouraging. Yet by the second paragraph the article notes "that construction of single-family homes and apartments dipped 1.1% in July compared with June. . ." And by the third paragraph:
Housing has been making a modest comeback this year. But even with the gains, the rate of construction and the level of permits remain only about half the 1.5 million annual rate considered healthy.
USAT: Companies Reducing Training Costs Are ‘Pushing Up Unemployment Rates’
In an apparent attempt to pin blame anywhere but on the Obama administration for the rising unemployment rate, a USA Today item currently carried at Newsmax's MoneyNews.com web site opens by claiming that "Companies across the country are cutting training programs for new employees, broadening the divide between workers with skills needed to compete in today's economy and those left out, pushing up unemployment rates in the process."
The incoherence is stunning, and it continues after the jump:
AP’s Wiseman Claims Year-Ago S&P Downgrade Has Seen a ‘Decisive Repudiation’
A year ago, Standard & Poor's cut its rating of U.S. government debt from AAA to AA+.
Very early Monday morning, in what read more like an Obama administration press release than a wire service news report, Paul Wiseman at the Associated Press claimed that subsequent events and other agencies' decisions not to deliver similar downgrades represent a "decisive repudiation" of S&P's call. Gee, I think an element of other agencies' holdbacks had quite a bit to do with the Obama administration's almost immediate move to launch an investigation into how S&P handled the ratings of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the housing and mortgage lending mess in 2008. The others didn't want to become the Department of Justice's next targets. But of course Wiseman didn't bring up that inconvenient point. Excerpts follow:
USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Mocks Ann Romney’s MS Therapeutic Riding ‘Habit’
You would think after all the negative press MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell got for trashing Ann Romney's multiple sclerosis therapy of riding horses, media members would have wised up.
Apparently not, for on CNN's State of the Union Sunday, USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page referred to Mrs. Romney's remedy as a "very expensive horse riding dressage habit" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CANDY CROWLEY, ANCHOR: Susan, in our last minute here, I know you had a big interview with Ann Romney recently.
What would surprise the public about Ann Romney?
SUSAN PAGE, USA TODAY WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: You know, I asked her -- this is going to be in "USA Today" tomorrow -- I asked her if she was going to write a book and she said, yes, she wants to write a book.
And I said, "About the campaign?" She said, no, she wants to write a book about her struggle with multiple sclerosis and with breast cancer and what she's learned about facing challenges of all sorts in doing that. That's really something she says reshaped her sense of self, her priorities. That is what she wants to talk about.
CROWLEY: A lot of talk that Ann Romney is one of his -- one of Mitt Romney's best weapons. Do you agree after that hour interview?
PAGE: I think she comes across as so warm, she is able to kind of warm him up, make him look a little more approachable, but she will also -- she also has this very expensive horse riding dressage habit, which has been a part of her recuperation from MS, but she will be at the Olympics watching her horse perform. I think that's probably a double-edged sword for the Romneys.
Somebody cue MS-sufferer Neil Cavuto of Fox News for it appears another therapeutic dressage basher needs another dressing down.
To receive my articles hot off the presses follow me on Twitter ow.ly/btalc and Facebook ow.ly/btald.
— Noel Sheppard (@NoelSheppard) June 9, 2012
Aaron Sorkin Insists to NBC That He’s Not Known For His Liberal Politics
On Thursday's NBC Rock Center, just days after calling for more liberal media bias against conservatives, left-wing screen writer Aaron Sorkin dismissed the idea that he has a reputation as an outspoken liberal: "I don't know so much about my being known for my liberal politics.... I don't have very much political sophistication at all." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Correspondent Savannah Guthrie skeptically replied: "Really, you're not known for your liberal politics?" Sorkin argued: "I don't feel that way about myself. Maybe I am. I've met activists, I'm not one of them. You know, they'll march. They'll do things that are hard. I, I don't."
Sorkin recently told USA Today that his latest project, HBO's The Newsroom, had a "bias toward fairness," even as the article went on to tout how the show's lead character, anchor Will McAvoy played by Jeff Daniels, "goes after the Tea Party activists and billionaire Koch brothers who helped fund it for seizing control of the Republican Party..."
In a review for The New Republic on Friday, ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper ripped Sorkin's leftist fantasy:
McAvoy – and, by extension, Sorkin – preach political selflessness, but they practice pure partisanship; they extol the Fourth Estate's democratic duty, but they believe that responsibility consists mostly of criticizing Republicans. This is done through the oldest trick in the book for a Hollywood liberal: by having McAvoy be a "sane Republican" who looks at his party with sadness and anger.
On Rock Center, Guthrie failed to challenge Sorkin on the show's obvious agenda, simply noting: "His latest project, The Newsroom on HBO, a comedy drama tackling themes of romance and politics set in the world of cable news." Turning to Sorkin, she observed: "This is kind of the newsroom of your dreams." Sorkin replied: "It absolutely is."
Guthrie described the main character this way: "Sorkin's protagonist, played by Jeff Daniels, is a news anchor on the rebound from a sort of nervous breakdown....Daring to tell the nation what it doesn't want to hear." A clip played of Daniels as McAvoy running down America: "There's absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're 7th in literacy, 27th in math- "
After accepting Sorkin's laughable denial of his liberal politics, Guthrie and host Brian Williams gushed about him like adoring fans. Williams confessed: "My only problem with his work is how dumb it makes me feel, which is not a long walk on any day." Guthrie chimed in: "Well, we're all in that club, aren't we? I mean it's almost like another language we need to translate....You know, he obviously is incredibly intelligent....he's pretty humble about it."
Wrapping up the segment, Williams told Guthrie: "Great profile. I envy you the time you spent with him."
Here are portions of the June 21 segment:
10:20PM ET
(...)
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: His latest project, The Newsroom on HBO, a comedy drama tackling themes of romance and politics set in the world of cable news. This is kind of the newsroom of your dreams.
AARON SORKIN: It absolutely is.
GUTHRIE: All those moments spent at home watching, throwing things at the TV, now you can say how it really should be done.
SORKIN: I'm – honestly I'm not trying to say how anything should be done. But in a romantic comedy, you know, love works the way we wish it would work and here the news works the way we wish it would work.
GUTHRIE: Sorkin's protagonist, played by Jeff Daniels, is a news anchor on the rebound from a sort of nervous breakdown.
JEFF DANIELS [AS WILL MCAVOY]: YouTube, YouTube!
EMILY MORTIMER [AS MACKENZIE MACHALE]: Will, now you're just a crazy guy shouting YouTube!
GUTHRIE: Daring to tell the nation what it doesn't want to hear.
DANIELS: There's absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're 7th in literacy, 27th in math-
GUTHRIE: You are known for your liberal politics. Your lead character is a registered Republican.
SORKIN: Well, first, I don't know so much about my being known for my liberal politics. These characters aren't, you know, vessels for me to say what I want. I don't have very much political sophistication at all.
GUTHRIE: Really, you're not known for your liberal politics?
SORKIN: I don't feel that way about myself. Maybe I am. I've met activists, I'm not one of them. You know, they'll march. They'll do things that are hard. I, I don't.
GUTHRIE: You're not that motivated?
SORKIN: I'm not.
(...)
10:25PM
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Savannah, you touched on this. My only problem with his work is how dumb it makes me feel, which is not a long walk on any day. But I go days without quoting the framers to the Constitution.
GUTHRIE: Well, we're all in that club, aren't we? I mean it's almost like another language we need to translate. I don't speak Sorkinese fluently either. You know, he obviously is incredibly intelligent. He says that he, of course, was the youngest of siblings that were much, much smarter than him and he just had to keep up, so he's pretty humble about it.
And it's not just the content, it's also the length. He says most television scripts, the ones he writes, are 20 to 25 pages longer than the average one because he puts so many darn words in them.
WILLIAMS: And as you mentioned, the angst already about his daughter liking his...
GUTHRIE: What a moment. He has all the anxieties of a writer with far less success, and yet here he is, a household name practically, for writing. That's something pretty rare in Hollywood.
WILLIAMS: Great profile. I envy you the time you spent with him. Savannah Guthrie, thank you as always.
GUTHRIE: Thanks.
AP’s Job Openings Coverage Understates Significance of Steep Drop
It wouldn't quite be fair to say that the Associated Press's Christopher Rugaber sugarcoated his dispatch on today's release of the April Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) by Uncle Sam's Bureau of Labor Statistics. But it would be more than fair to say he missed several chances to tell readers how significant the setbacks BLS relayed really were (openings fell 8.7% from a seasonally adjusted 3.741 million to 3.416 million). That's especially true, given what we already know about May's employment situation.
What follows are several paragraphs from Rugaber's report, followed by contextual factoids the folks at Zero Hedge found which the AP reporter missed or ignored:
US employers post fewest job openings in 5 months
Employers in April posted the fewest job openings in five months, suggesting hiring will remain sluggish in the months ahead.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings fell to a seasonally adjusted 3.4 million in April, down from 3.7 million in March. The March figure was the highest in nearly four years.
The decline could mean employers are growing more cautious about adding workers in the face of financial turmoil in Europe and slower growth in the United States. Job openings can take one to three months to fill.
There were 12.5 million unemployed people in April. That means there was an average of 3.7 people competing for each open job. In a healthy job market, the ratio is usually around 2 to 1.
Openings have risen by almost a third since the recession ended in June 2009. But they are still below pre-recession levels of about 5 million per month.
Now let's see what the folks at Zero Hedge were able to find by 11:24 a.m. today, two hours before the latest time stamp (1:26 p.m.) on Rugaber's report (also don't forget that Rugaber may have had a head start on everyone else, given that AP is one of a select few news organizations which is allowed pre-embargo access to BLS releases which I believe it does not deserve to have):
The BLS April JOLTS survey was released earlier and it was ugly - of particular attention was the number of "job opening" which collapsed from 3.741MM to 3.416MM, a drop of 325,000, which just happens to be the biggest decline since May 2010. It is also the 6th largest drop in history ... Adding to the dire jobs picture was the New Hires number which dropped by 160,000, the biggest sequential drop since April 2011, and finally separations, which after months of increases (remember: more separations is a good thing supposedly, meaning people are confident they can find better paying jobs elsewhere), had their biggest drop by 81,000, also the most since April 2011.
Each of the three numbers cited is the worst in a year or more. That's a lot more than the "five months" on which Rugaber focused, and in my view are better indicators of the significance of the reported setback.
One more factoid Rugaber didn't note: The amount of the drop mentioned in this post's first paragraph is the largest in four years, according to the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, and USA Today (in case you're missing the point, Chris, you got statistically scooped).
To his credit, Rugaber did eventually get to what I will sardonically call a "private sector is fine" update:
The drop in openings was concentrated in the private sector, and was particularly steep in professional and business services. Available jobs fell 14 percent in that category, which includes high-paying jobs such as engineers, architects and accountants, as well as lower-paying temporary jobs.
And again, this is the report for April. There's clearly strong reason to be very concerned about what May's JOLTS report will show.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
Some Very Political Science
The news is stuffed with “studies” in which “experts” tell us how we should behave. One recently found that conservatives have lost their trust in science over the last 40 years. That’s probably because the very political academics of “Science” are routinely summoned to prove the right-wingers are not only wrong, but dangerously wrong, andnot just dangerously wrong, but evil, too.