Wednesday, September 15, 2004

One Million jobs lost in the 9/11 aftermath

The ass from which the White House pulls its numbers gets ever bigger. Dick Cheney claims that a MILLION jobs were lost "within a few weeks after the 9/11 attack because of the damage that that did to our tourism and travel industry". Wow. A million jobs. That's a HUGE impact within a few weeks after 9/11, an economic event that would rival the Great Depression which absorbed a net job loss over a decade.

But it isn't true. This statement confilcts with theUS Dept. of Labor's analysis of the aftermath which says "In the 18 weeks following the September 11 attacks (the weeks ending September 15 through January 12), employers reported 430 events involving 125,637 workers separated as a direct or indirect effect of the attacks."

A million jobs is a far cry from the 125,637 jobs lost, but that doesn't really matter anymore, does it? Because Cheney says it in a speech, the press reports it, and eventually it becomes truth.

Much like McCarthy holding up a sheet of paper saying "I have a list of (x) card carrying members of the Communist pary" with nothing on the sheet.

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