 | I will take you up on that, Mr. President. I'll tweet JAY-Z--let him know your policies have created an economy with the lowest black unemployment rate EVER RECORDED! I'll tell him what's up, but first I need a couple of things from you. |
I think normally I'd want to look at results from longer than one year in office. I don't have to tell you, Mr. President, that it takes time to get bills through Congress--really, to ramp up any sort new initiative. But you’re so excited about this it's got me excited too. Just... could you specify which of your policies has been most instrumental in dropping the African American unemployment rate? That would help a lot. At the moment I can't put my finger on what you've done to achieve it, and if I'm really going to school JAY-Z, I'll need details. Point me to a policy of yours with this sort of immediate, positive impact on the lives of African Americans and I’ll brag it up.
Also, we should probably provide JAY-Z with some context. A little historical perspective can be so effective in opening one's eyes to the truth. Maybe we should look over, say, the last ten years, and see where your administration fits in.
Don't worry Donald, I've got this one! I've got some charts and graphs here that really lay it out straight. With you so hyped-up about black unemployment, I'm assuming you've been focused on it for quite a while, am I right? So I’m not showing you anything you don't already know. This is for JAY-Z.
The two graphics on top (1a and 1b) give you--uh, him--a couple of ways to look at data illustrating the severe rise and fall of the last decade's overall unemployment rates. That was a scary and painful period, wasn't it?
The graph on the left (1a) shows the percentage of unemployment (numbered along the left side) and the year (along the bottom). Next to that is a chart (1b) breaking the numbers down by month.
Below that are two graphics (2a and 2b) showing numbers specifically for African American unemployment over the same period.
Also, we should probably provide JAY-Z with some context. A little historical perspective can be so effective in opening one's eyes to the truth. Maybe we should look over, say, the last ten years, and see where your administration fits in.
Don't worry Donald, I've got this one! I've got some charts and graphs here that really lay it out straight. With you so hyped-up about black unemployment, I'm assuming you've been focused on it for quite a while, am I right? So I’m not showing you anything you don't already know. This is for JAY-Z.
The two graphics on top (1a and 1b) give you--uh, him--a couple of ways to look at data illustrating the severe rise and fall of the last decade's overall unemployment rates. That was a scary and painful period, wasn't it?
The graph on the left (1a) shows the percentage of unemployment (numbered along the left side) and the year (along the bottom). Next to that is a chart (1b) breaking the numbers down by month.
Below that are two graphics (2a and 2b) showing numbers specifically for African American unemployment over the same period.
 1a) US unemployment 2007-2017 BLS |  1b) US unemployment 2007-2017 monthly BLS |
 2a) African American unemployment 2007-2017 BLS |  2b) African American unemployment 2007-2017 monthly BLS |
Clearly, Mr. President, you are right to make a big deal out of this. It's been a harrowing ten years. Devastating. You look at this data and get a stark reminder of what we Americans went through during the recession. It also makes clear--since you brought it up--how hard African Americans were hit, with unemployment topping out at a catastrophic 16.8% in March of 2010.
Now, there's no overlooking the dramatic fall in these numbers that took place during the eight-year term of President Barack Obama. His administration cut unemployment by more than half, from 10% at it’s highest, to 4.7% when he left office. Over five percentage points. And nine percentage points were erased in unemployment for African Americans, down to 7.8%.
But we're not talking about him, are we, Mr. President? We're talking about you, and the policies you rushed through this year to bring that latter number down another point, to its current 6.8%. I’ll focus most on that last percentage point when I'm straightening out JAY-Z.
There’s one last piece of advice I need before I reach out to him. I pulled the numbers for these graphics from the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). No doubt, this is the correct, original source for these numbers. The BLS is the federal agency tasked with compiling and reporting the official monthly US jobs report.
But you and your supporters, notably the folks at Fox News, spent those eight years deriding that monthly report as fraudulent. You urged us not to believe the reports, said the books were cooked, the numbers were made up, that the methods used to calculate them were deceptive. Each month, when the US jobs report came out, you urged Americans to disregard it.
Well, your numbers come from the same report, Mr. President. The statistics are calculated the same way now as during President Obama's tenure. In fact, it is much the same, straightforward report that has been set forth by the Bureau of Labor Statistics since 1925. The only changes in methodology have been to improve their precision and scope.
So guide me here; either Barack Obama managed to lead the country out of the recession and into a stable economy before you took over, cutting African American and overall unemployment in half, or we can't trust the numbers. Let me know how you want to frame that, in case JAY-Z mentions it.
Oh – and I've thought of something sure to impress him. If you could . . . do some more policies, something to reduce that embarrassing disparity in unemployment rates by race, you might even score a shout out on his next album.
Awaiting your direction.
Now, there's no overlooking the dramatic fall in these numbers that took place during the eight-year term of President Barack Obama. His administration cut unemployment by more than half, from 10% at it’s highest, to 4.7% when he left office. Over five percentage points. And nine percentage points were erased in unemployment for African Americans, down to 7.8%.
But we're not talking about him, are we, Mr. President? We're talking about you, and the policies you rushed through this year to bring that latter number down another point, to its current 6.8%. I’ll focus most on that last percentage point when I'm straightening out JAY-Z.
There’s one last piece of advice I need before I reach out to him. I pulled the numbers for these graphics from the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). No doubt, this is the correct, original source for these numbers. The BLS is the federal agency tasked with compiling and reporting the official monthly US jobs report.
But you and your supporters, notably the folks at Fox News, spent those eight years deriding that monthly report as fraudulent. You urged us not to believe the reports, said the books were cooked, the numbers were made up, that the methods used to calculate them were deceptive. Each month, when the US jobs report came out, you urged Americans to disregard it.
Well, your numbers come from the same report, Mr. President. The statistics are calculated the same way now as during President Obama's tenure. In fact, it is much the same, straightforward report that has been set forth by the Bureau of Labor Statistics since 1925. The only changes in methodology have been to improve their precision and scope.
So guide me here; either Barack Obama managed to lead the country out of the recession and into a stable economy before you took over, cutting African American and overall unemployment in half, or we can't trust the numbers. Let me know how you want to frame that, in case JAY-Z mentions it.
Oh – and I've thought of something sure to impress him. If you could . . . do some more policies, something to reduce that embarrassing disparity in unemployment rates by race, you might even score a shout out on his next album.
Awaiting your direction.
