That’s a Major Back Pedal Isn’t It?

This from Fox News yesterday:

The White House wants a do-over for February’s yet-to-be released jobs numbers, arguing that the blizzards that hammered the country last month also dented the economic recovery.

Though the February unemployment figures are not out yet, White House economic adviser Larry Summers is already lowering expectations and claiming that winter weather is to blame for any posted decline.

In an interview with CNBC, Summers urged the country not to make any judgments about where the economy is headed based on the upcoming statistics.

“Who knows what the next number is going to be. The blizzards that affected much of the country during the last month are likely to distort the statistics, and in past blizzards those statistics have been distorted by 100,000 to 200,000 jobs, so it’s going to be very important … to look past whatever the next figures are to gauge the underlying trends,” he said.

So, let me get this straight. A blizzard that takes a day or two to dig out of can cause job losses? Or, at a minimum distort the numbers?

Could it be that Summers knows the numbers are not going to be great and is trying to come up with a plausible reason for the losses in advance of the numbers being released?

I think that would be a safe bet.

Seems to me that if you’re going to make excuses for job losses, there might be a better excuse to use than the weather, especially if the weather that you’re using for an excuse is a blizzard and you’re a global warming advocate.

Lesson number one if you’re a politician – make sure that your excuses are congruent with all of your political positions.

No wonder no one believes anything that anyone in Washington says.

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