Nothing kills success like excess!
Senator Joe McCarthy was the Republican senator from Wisconsin during the early 1950s, at the height of the "Cold War." He became a respected national leader, with his obsession that our government was full of closet Communists. By simply asking if someone was a Communist, that person then had to prove the negative -- that he was NOT a Communist. It is a simple political trick to make somebody defend themselves. Eventually, after destroying the careers of many honest government employees, his career was itself destroyed with the classic question of "have you no sense of decency?"
A few years ago, Donald Trump made the President's birthplace a big deal, by simply saying he didn't know where Obama was born. People are still burning up brain cells and life expectancy chasing this rainbow. Senator Mitch McConnell famously called the President's religion into question by simply saying he didn't know if Obama was a Christian or not.
Yesterday, in "the tweet heard round-the-world," one of America's most respected retired CEOs, Jack Welch, linked his lack of understanding about the Jobs Report with his lack of trust in the President, slyly implying that Obama's Chicago pols (Read: Al Capone) were manipulating the economic data. Last night, I saw him reveling in attention on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC. Enough already!
In April of 2010, I spent two days in Washington at a seminar on "Economic Measurement." With the growth of econometric modeling (like the Jobs Report), there is greater emphasis on the measurement of economic data, which are inputs for the models. There were at least a hundred economic nerds listening to very detailed analysis of problems in collecting job information every month on over 100 million workers. Some classes were taught by the many people who actually produce the Jobs Reports. There are lots of problems in collecting the data. There are lots of problems in the manipulation of that data. There are lots of arguments about statistical techniques. But, there is no effort to hide any of those problems. In two long days, I don't recall the subject of partisan politics one single time.
If Mr. Welch has any real burning interest in understanding the numbers, he could attend the next seminar. Or, he could simply impugn the work of those economists by linking them to sleazy Chicago pols.
Of course, there are legitimate problems with any economic report, which I can easily detail, but that doesn't mean they are politically motivated.
There are many good and valid reasons not to vote for the President, which I can also easily detail, but this is ridiculous. It is cheap over-reach by a respected business leader. Mr. Welch should apologize.
Nothing kills success like excess!
Senator Joe McCarthy was the Republican senator from Wisconsin during the early 1950s, at the height of the "Cold War." He became a respected national leader, with his obsession that our government was full of closet Communists. By simply asking if someone was a Communist, that person then had to prove the negative -- that he was NOT a Communist. It is a simple political trick to make somebody defend themselves. Eventually, after destroying the careers of many honest government employees, his career was itself destroyed with the classic question of "have you no sense of decency?"
A few years ago, Donald Trump made the President's birthplace a big deal, by simply saying he didn't know where Obama was born. People are still burning up brain cells and life expectancy chasing this rainbow. Senator Mitch McConnell famously called the President's religion into question by simply saying he didn't know if Obama was a Christian or not.
Yesterday, in "the tweet heard round-the-world," one of America's most respected retired CEOs, Jack Welch, linked his lack of understanding about the Jobs Report with his lack of trust in the President, slyly implying that Obama's Chicago pols (Read: Al Capone) were manipulating the economic data. Last night, I saw him reveling in attention on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC. Enough already!
In April of 2010, I spent two days in Washington at a seminar on "Economic Measurement." With the growth of econometric modeling (like the Jobs Report), there is greater emphasis on the measurement of economic data, which are inputs for the models. There were at least a hundred economic nerds listening to very detailed analysis of problems in collecting job information every month on over 100 million workers. Some classes were taught by the many people who actually produce the Jobs Reports. There are lots of problems in collecting the data. There are lots of problems in the manipulation of that data. There are lots of arguments about statistical techniques. But, there is no effort to hide any of those problems. In two long days, I don't recall the subject of partisan politics one single time.
If Mr. Welch has any real burning interest in understanding the numbers, he could attend the next seminar. Or, he could simply impugn the work of those economists by linking them to sleazy Chicago pols.
Of course, there are legitimate problems with any economic report, which I can easily detail, but that doesn't mean they are politically motivated.
There are many good and valid reasons not to vote for the President, which I can also easily detail, but this is ridiculous. It is cheap over-reach by a respected business leader. Mr. Welch should apologize.
Nothing kills success like excess!
