Jobless Claims Spike 15,000 -- But Less Than Expected -- And As Bogus As Ever -- Labor Department

... but less than expected. LOL. That's only because the numbers are now estimated by political hacks.

For the second week in a row I won't link this to the site where I track these numbers. After last week's mockery, these numbers are so incredibly unbelievable, it's not even worth tracking. A year from now, folks will be asking whether we have to start adding asterisks to the data during President O'Bama's presidency, just as an asterisk is added to Roger Maris' home run record (61 in '61) because the season was extended from 154 to 162 games. Or the asterisks that have been added to the baseball data during the steroid era. I don't think they added an asterisk to Lance Armstrong's racing years; they simply removed his name.

So, anyway, what was I saying? I left for a moment to talk to a guy who rode to Starbucks on his Specialized mountain bike, different color, but almost identical to mine. His has disc brakes; and the 29" rim. Mine does not have disc brakes.

Oh, yes, the initial unemployment claims report. After talking about bikes, it puts everything into perspective. The jobless numbers, week-to-week, is nothing but white noise. I used to enjoy tracking the numbers, but I've lost the enthusiasm now that I've seen how much they can be massaged.

The US is asking for Syria to account for all its chemical weapons it has accumulated since WWII, and to do this in a war zone, while there is shooting going on. The US can't even get its weekly unemployment numbers right. Look at what Reuters is reporting:

Jobless claims in the U.S. rose less than forecast last week as two states began working through a backlog of applications that were caused by computer-system changeovers.

Applications for unemployment benefits climbed by 15,000 to 309,000 in the week ended Sept. 14 from a revised 294,000 in the prior period, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 53 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an increase to 330,000.

A Labor Department spokesman said it could be a week or two before the state employment agencies are able to catch up on applications. 

I can't make this stuff up: it could be a week or two before the state employment agencies are able to catch up on applications and we're expecting Syria to account for 50 years of chemical weapons in one week. Give me a break.

Oh, and a lot of those chemical weapons were probably brought in from Iraq after Colin Powell said Iraq was hiding their weapons of mass destruction. Don't even get me started on the one individual that has most disappointed me.

But you know, that's a great excuse for Syria: they can say accounting for their chemical weapons will be delayed because they are switching over to Microsoft computers bought by Russia.

Anyway, closer to home: more Americans than ever see the hypocrisy -- exactly what I've been posting (preaching?) for the past few years: Americans views on US economy drop to one-year low.  And I'm sure one's view on the economy is directly related to the job one has (or doesn't have) and the rewards of that job.