We Have Our Own Facts

I weep when I think of Pat Moynihan. Contra his famous quip, nowadays everybody does have their own facts. There’s a sort of blog war going on right now which I find amusing in a gallows humor sort of way. First, Zero Hedge produced some charts right off a Bloomberg terminal. Then Donald Trump tweeted the charts. Then Philip Bump fact-checked the charts at the Washington Post.

Now Zero Hedge has come back to explicate its charts, laced with a sizable dollop of mockery:

As author Philip Bump, who apparently has never encountered a Bloomberg terminal before, says, “there are nine little graphs embedded in there, with hard-to-read axes and unclear provenance for the numbers, all of which are meant to bolster one argument: Barack Obama’s presidency has been bad.”

Well, Philip, you can interpret the “bolstering” in any way you want, what you can’t however interpret are the facts – which is what those charts show. Of course, everyone can make up their own conclusion about what the ongoing economic deterioration means: one can even say that almost 8 years later, it is still “Bush’s fault.”

Alas, we were naive to assume that the WaPo can’t “fact-check” charts based on facts. Because that is precisely what they did. And in doing so it provided much amusement.

The entire exchange is an exercise in futility. Everybody has their own facts. For each fact there is a contradictory fact. If you point out the low rate of job growth (and the number of people who are so frustrated they’ve given up looking), someone else will point out the low rate of unemployment. If you point out the shallowness of the recovery, someone else will point out its duration. If you point out the number of jobs that have been created over the last seven years, someone else will contrast the jobs lost with the jobs created.

The facts are being sprayed out as octopi spray out ink.

As I’ve said before, my approach is to count the teeth. If it doesn’t feel like a robust recovery, it isn’t one. Maybe I’m just prejudiced by living in Chicago.

4 comments… add one
  • PD Shaw Link

    Here I thought it was your “show me” state upbringing.

    Zero Hedge is wrong though, the recession that began under Bush was not his fault, but what Obama failed to do during his Presidency was his fault. Clinton is not at fault for the violence of some of her supporters, but Trump is obviously responsible for that of his. To disagree with any one of these obvious conclusions is to be blinded by partisanship, my views are balanced, or equally unbalanced if you prefer. Moral high ground decisively seized at the outset of the silly season.

  • Andy Link

    Plus, most people don’t know the difference between facts, opinions, opinions about facts, beliefs, estimates, analysis, analysis based on facts and/or estimates etc.

  • steve Link

    In this particular case it is about how the facts are displayed. Arranging your values on your axes to make what is in reality a small increase or decrease, looking like a 100% change. Cherry picking bad years and leaving off better ones. ZeroHedge isn’t the only place that does this, but it is always good to go look at original sources when they make claims.

    Steve

  • Guarneri Link

Leave a Comment