Have the criteria used for determining the rate of unemployment changed since Bush left office?

He probably underestimated the depth of the mess that the last administration left our country in when he made that projection.

You are presuming that the Bureau of Labor Statistics only counts those receiving UC as unemployed. That's not the case. Unemployment compensation is not a factor in figuring the 8.3% rate. Check their website and pdf of January statistics. Look here to see that since 1/10 at least, the trend is down.Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

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"Books lie, he said. God dont lie. No, said the judge. He does not. And these are his words. He held up a chunk of rock. He speaks in stones and trees, the bones of things." - Cormac McCarthy


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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

Teleprompter Projection?

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C'mon, JP, what did you expect him to do after he starts turning away this sort...

NYT: Obama returns cash tied to Mexico 'casino czar' - politics - The New York Times - msnbc.com

It's all bad, right? Life for you guys is just one big freaking downer. Obama is the end of the world, the coming of Communism, a Caliphate, etc etc. Hey, I'm making a killing in the stock market right now, you should have bought GM instead of screaming "socialism".

You should be arguing against global corporatism instead. It has provided an unending flood of cheap, foreign made goods that are barely affordable for a decimated middle class working in low-pay service sector jobs. The repos have been concentrating only on the supply side, and that plan has run its course. They have nothing in the toolkit now. The change that's needed goes way beyond politics.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

If you want to see success, look at Norway, Finland and Germany. They have heavily unionizes entitlement societies. So do we. We are failing. They are winning? Why? First, higher education is free to all who can demonstrate merit and brains. We, on the other hand, have been embarked on a campaign to make education so expensive only the rich will be able to afford it. They have single-payer health care systems, which removes health care costs from their product price structures. Start from there, and pretty soon you can figure out why we are becoming the world's largest basket case.

I sure didn't expect him to live the convictions of his words. Only a fool would expect that of President Hopery-Changery.

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"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." Mark Twain

In effect the criteria absolutely HAS changed. With 2 to 3 million people having given up looking for work. The current "unemploment data" does NOT reflect these additional few million jobs in the percentage.

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Larry

'88 300E 5 speed manual, 333K miles
'99 SLK 230 AMG, manual transmission
Cessna 140

"Change oil hot and change oil often"

“I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.” - John Wayne

Seriously? You can't compare data using different methodology. You could probably make a case that the difference between the U6 and "standard" methods has increased over time with the caveat that the behaviors at both ends of the curve are asymptotic.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Unilateral disarmament is never a good idea.

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Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 82 240d, 83 300TD with five speed, 03 Dodge 3/4 ton with cummins six speed; I have had about 33 benzes. I am building a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup street rod at the moment in which I plan to install a 617 and a five speed manual.....or a 64 stude v8.

Your logic is flawed, as you are aware. If people in this category were not counted as unemployed five years ago, but suddenly are today, the value of using historical data for comparative purposes becomes compromised. I have no doubt that, if people in this category were counted as unemployed five years ago, and this category was dropped as part of the employment count during the Obama administration, you and other Tea Partiers would scream that Obama was attempting to cook the stats for the benefit of his administration.

Not seriously. He knows better.

Guest Post: Illusion Of Recovery - Feelings Versus Facts | ZeroHedge

That's the real unemployment rate.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles