Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) sent me a note* today about today’s “official” unemployment numbers:

[T]he “official” unemployment rate has dipped one tenth of one percent to 8.5% in December, this rate has persisted at over 8% for 35 straight months. Worse, the misleading practice persists of excluding from the unemployment calculation our fellow Americans who despair of finding a job and are no longer actively seeking for employment. Consequently, when our friends, neighbors and loved ones who are no longer looking for work, along with those only able to find part-time work, are included, America’s ‘underemployed’ rate equates to a staggering 23.7 million Americans (15.2%).

The 8.5% number being blasted by the ‘news’ media is a complete scam.

I also received a note from all around smart guy, fellow Michigan blogger and good friend of MCT, 5etester, who pointed me to this article @ Mish’s Global Economics:

Note how the labor force has flat lined for four years even though population growth has averaged 1.5 million for the past 55 years. From 1993 to 2007 population growth was 1.7 million per year!

Thus, the labor force should not suddenly turn flat since retirements do not even come close to explaining the chart. Yet, suddenly the work force has just been frozen in time although the population continues on the same upward trend.

The work force is literally one million smaller than during Bush’s last year in office. This is statistically impossible, at least judging from historic trends.

We also are still 5.6 million people below the employment number of the peak year in 2007. So, practically speaking we have approximately 11.6 million more people unemployed than in 2007.

Be sure to click over to Mish and check out the graph illustrating the fraud being perpetrated on us Americans.

*I’m on McCotters mailing list.