You may remember the controversy in the lead up to the 2012 election surrounding the miraculous drop in the unemployment rate from 8.1% in August 2012 to 7.8% in September. The drop raised the eyebrows of many in the business community – chief among them, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who found himself labeled an “unemployment-rate truther” and ridiculed for his skepticism.
Well, now it appears as though Welch will get the last laugh, for the New York Post is reporting the unemployment numbers were manipulated during that time period and the Census Bureau, which conducts the unemployment survey, was aware of the fraud.
“There's a new scandal out now. What a surprise. As the 2012 presidential election was going on, the jobs numbers were released and, if you remember right, they absolutely destroyed anyone who said that those numbers weren’t true,” Glen said on radio this morning. “And the number one guy who took the brunt of the hits is a guy named Jack Welch – a guy that we used to think was a hero, patriot, genius, a guy that everybody tried to be like… During the election, he… said, ‘Those numbers aren't real.’ And they tore him apart for days. They feasted on the bones of this senile old man, Jack Welch. As it turns out, Jack Welch knew exactly what he was talking about.”
In an article entitled, “Census ‘faked’ 2012 election jobs report,” the New York Post, relying on a “reliable source,” reports:
Just two years before the presidential election, the Census Bureau had caught an employee fabricating data that went into the unemployment report, which is one of the most closely watched measures of the economy.
And a knowledgeable source says the deception went beyond that one employee — that it escalated at the time President Obama was seeking reelection in 2012 and continues today.
[…]
The Census employee caught faking the results is Julius Buckmon, according to confidential Census documents obtained by The Post. Buckmon told me in an interview this past weekend that he was told to make up information by higher-ups at Census.
Welch made national headlines last fall, when he tweeted his concerns about the unemployment numbers and made several television appearances in which he held fast to his claims. It was this October 5, 2012 tweet that got the most attention:
Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers
— Jack Welch (@jack_welch) October 5, 2012
“So Jack Welch was absolutely right. Absolutely right. Now, where does he go to get his reputation back,” Glenn asked. “And they smeared Jack Welch, and they did it, I believe, knowingly.”
There is no way to know whether or not this information would have had any impact on the 2012 election. It should be noted that no incumbent president has ever won an election with an unemployment rate over 8%, but, as Glenn argued, most people don’t really case.
“I don't think anybody cares,” Glenn said. “I think it would have hurt [President Obama] if the unemployment number had stayed there and he said, ‘It's getting better.’”
While it is certainly alarming to have proof the government is blatantly making up numbers as important as the unemployment figures, Glenn said the real story is what was done to Welch.
“What this story is really all about is Jack Welch, I think. If we cannot see the truth, then we cannot be set free. You have to see the truth first to be set free,” Glenn said. “What we have to do is right the wrongs and hold those people up that have been told they are powerless, believe they are powerless, and hold those people up who believe they have been wronged. Jack Welch has been wronged.”
“Somebody has to tell the story… We all owe it to Jack Welch, and to ourselves, and to our children to tell the history because the press won't,” Glenn concluded. “You tell history and do it without vitriol. Hold him up and show the world who, A, we are – that if we get a story wrong, or if we see an injustice, we correct it. Because I can guarantee you no one in the mainstream media will correct this story today.”