The Rush Limbaugh School Of Economics: Sean Hannity Further Improves Unemployment Rate Inherited From Bush

Written by Leslie Rosenberg

Published

Is Sean Hannity a Dittohead?

Last week, Rush Limbaugh fabricated unemployment data to attack Obama, claiming that the president " inherited ... an unemployment rate of 5.7 percent." On Monday, Hannity did Limbaugh one better, claiming that Obama “inherited unemployment at 5.6 percent.”

Of course, the unemployment rate when Obama took office was far, far higher than that.

Actual unemployment rates for 2008:

unemployment08

The New York Times reported in January, 2009, on the economy and jobs situation that was inherited:

U.S. employers shed 2.6 million jobs in 2008, the worst year since 1945, the government reported Friday, and a rapidly deteriorating economy promises more significant losses ahead.

The unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent in December, the highest since January 1993, up from 6.8 percent in November, the Labor Department said. More than 11 million Americans are now unemployed.

Economists fell over themselves in describing the dire nature of the jobs report, which they said was alarming confirmation that the economy was in the midst of a sharp contraction.