Larry Elder:
The post-debate media "truth squad" took little time in taking Bush to task for denying he ever said he "wasn't that concerned" about Osama bin Laden. Please. Imagine Bush's poll numbers in the event the military captures or kills Osama bin Laden before the election. Believe me, Bush is trying.
John Kerry, however, said a number of things that received little comment. For example, Kerry said, "I don't know how you can govern in this country when you look at New York City and you see that 50 percent of the black males there are unemployed." Really?
Kerry apparently got his 50 percent figure from the Community Service Society of New York, an organization that purports to "lead the fight against poverty in New York City." Their February 2004 annual report states, "In 2003 barely one-half (51.8 percent) of New York black men were employed," citing data derived from "Current Population Surveys," "monthly estimates" and "statistical models."
The Department of Labor Statistics, however, says that in 2002 the unemployment rate for black males in New York City stood at 12.6 percent. And for the first six months of 2004 it calculated the unemployment rate for black men and women at 12.6 percent -- just a tad lower than Kerry's 50 percent.
By the way, the same Community Service Society study determined the city's black female employment rate at 57.1 percent, yet reported black unemployment at 12.9 percent! If a little more than half of black people are working, but less than 13 percent are unemployed, how do the rest of blacks occupy their time? Maybe Kerry meant 50 percent of all black males -- newborns, toddlers, children, adolescents, teenagers and Golden Agers.
Comments
Post a Comment