Biden makes up unemployment numbers

Glenn Kessler:
“Look, Candy, the six months before we took office, the bottom fell out. There were 5 million jobs lost. Before we got the first bill passed, another 3 million jobs lost. So we started off with an 8 million job deficit that wasn't of our making.”
— Vice President Biden, Oct. 23, 2011, on CNN’s “State of the Union”
Vice President Biden, after dealing with some uncomfortable questions about his over-the-top language on rape and murder statistics, was asked by host Candy Crowley to defend the administration’s handling of the U.S. economy.
 Biden made the claim above, and we nearly fell out of our chair. We knew the economy was bad when President Obama took office, but was it really that bad?

The Facts

 The first thing we did, we went to the trusted Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site and pulled the data on monthly job loss or gains from the Current Employment Statistics survey.  

Biden referred to the “first bill,” which technically means the equal-pay legislation known as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (Jan. 30, 2009). But we assume he means the $800 billion stimulus bill, which Obama signed on Feb. 17.  Being generous, let’s credit Obama all of January and February, even though he only took office on Jan. 20.
Let’s break down the data, claim by claim:
  “The six months before we took office”
We count 1.2 million jobs lost from July to December — not 5 million.
 “Before we got the first bill passed”
We count 1.5 million jobs lost in January and February — not 3 million.
 So that totals 2.7 million jobs, instead of Biden’s 8 million.
... 
Kessler is generous in giving Biden only two Pinochios.  I would have given him four or the max.  No one argues that the economy was not in decline. but Biden was at best exaggerating to make a point that needed no exaggeration.  Since these problems were the direct result of Democrat housing policies which cratered the real estate market and almost took the financial markets with it, he is off base trying to blame their problems on President Bush.

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