HIT THE NIGHT TRAIN EARLY Even more fired


More really good news, lads!

"Jobless claims show downward trend in hopeful sign," was the idiot headline from AP here.

But in the lede graf: "The number of newly laid-off workers filing first-time claims for jobless benefits rose last week, the government said, though the increase was mostly due to seasonal distortions."

Over in Reuters-land:

"The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly more than expected last week, but the number of workers staying on jobless rolls fell to the lowest in three months, government data showed on Thursday.

But why are they no longer on jobless roles? Because they're not counted because they've been denied or exceeded their unemployment claims? Don't ask the newsmen.

"Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 584,000 in the week ended July 25, the Labor Department said, a touch above market expectations for a reading of 570,000."

And last month, on DD's frozen WP blog, only it was allegedly good news from AP, too.

"Lowest level since January..." crowed the agency, at the time.

It's not possible to have a reasonable democracy when large portions of the mainstream press treat rising unemployment rates as good news. Reason is not in town when wishful interpretations of statistical noise and human imprecision in data collection are intepreted as things from which one can wring favorable wind.

"The latest report is actually reasonably good news," said Abiel Reinhart, some bankster from JPMorgan Chase & Co., for the news agency.

"Still, jobs remain scarce and the unemployment rate, which hit 9.5 percent for June, is expected to surpass 10 percent by year's end," added AP equably.