There's no manipulating the figures. The BLS is a independent run organization. Many of these people have served under more than one President. The BLS is seperate from the Labor Dept.

So don't get your undies all tangled up before you know the facts. That's the trouble with alot of the folks who think they know politics and when it comes to the end of the day they don't know shit. They speak before their brain catches up with their mouth. That's pretty amazing evidence that we have now had a steady job growth now for 44 months in a row. Yes, the unemployment rate is now at 7.8% and not low enough for those still without a job, but there's still hope at the end of the tunnel. We are heading in the right direction. How come you want that 7.8% to be even worse? Is it because your negatives are starting to dry up? You know you are ever so slowly coming to the end of your crap about replacing the President. Your running out of time. You've only got 33 days to campaign against the President. So you better dream up some more crap filled mostly with lies. So let's hear some more lies today.

I did go back to my earlier post and try to answer your question but I did so with an update so maybe you did not see it so I will paste it in here and then add to it.

To try and answer your question about 5% yes historically that is a relatively healthy number at 4% labor markets begin to heat up and businesses have to become much more competitive to attract employees and that is typically when we see people really beginning to feel as if they are getting ahead and have real career choices, but Richard don't be fooled by these numbers, as there is a huge difference between 7.7% and 5%, the other factor that is discouraging is the U-5 and the U-6 numbers... in a healthy economy we would not see such a spread between U-3 and U-6..

I think that what is key here is that the under reporting value of U-3 when the economy is bad... back in the Oct and Nov of 2005 the rates remained unchanged across the two months with the official rate U-3 was 5.0% while U-6 was 8.7 so the gap was about 3.7, but still represented probably about 5 1/2 million people as the work force is about 150 to 155 million people, but as we are seeing this is a moving target and the government keeps reporting that it is getting smaller and this helps them to improve their numbers... but let's look at today's numbers, there is an almost full 7 point gap in these numbers so today that 5 1/2 million that the government does not report on has grown to 10 1/2 million... I would say that is somewhat slight of hand, no matter that both sides do it.

I am NOT concerned about the other rates, only the one I have described and that has historically been regarded as relatively healthy and normal. All the other figures that you bring in merely blurr what is happening. We are going in the right direction under Obama, starting at that hideously inflated rat from W.

You are right. And you are correct that a comparison to past numbers requires adhering to the same set. I would not argue that point. However, when millions of people give up looking because their unemployment eligibility ended there is something wrong with a system that ignores them as if they just dropped off the face of the earth. If you think the economy is good, then fine. As they say: When my neighbor is unemployed that's a recession. When I am unemploye that's a depression. Just because they have never been counted doesn't mean all is well.

No, the country is running out of time. The Outstanding Public Debt as of 05 Oct 2012 is: 16,160,319,891,313.97. The estimated population of the United States is 313,629,948 so each citizen's share of this debt is $51,526.71.

Why do some folks use the term lies & lies simply when others disagree with them? Was this fellow lying when he said:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."
~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

The national debt was at $10.6 trillion when President Obama took office. 8-)

No, the country is running out of time. The Outstanding Public Debt as of 05 Oct 2012 is: 16,160,319,891,313.97. The estimated population of the United States is 313,629,948 so each citizen's share of this debt is $51,526.71.

Why do some folks use the term lies & lies simply when others disagree with them? Was this fellow lying when he said:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."
~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

The national debt was at $10.6 trillion when President Obama took office. 8-)

The problem is less that of lying and more that of the Republicans in Congress being obstructionists. You can't lead a herd of cats. The Republican Party has gone off the deep end, with the stated goal not of helping the President accomplish anything and not with the goal of improving the welfare of the people, but mainly with the goal of making Obama a one-term president. To me, that is close to treason.