TERRE HAUTE —
It has become a monthly ritual.
On the first Friday of each month, the U.S. government releases the previous month’s unemployment rate, setting off a dizzying spin of analysis and commentary that could daze and confuse the most stable and clear-thinking person.
The exercise has been especially intense since the collapse of the financial system, housing market and accompanying economic recession. And the attention to the numbers has increased even more as the general election grows closer.
For the record, according to Friday’s Associated Press report, U.S. employers added only 80,000 jobs in June, a third straight month of weak hiring that shows the economy is still struggling three years after the recession ended. That left the unemployment rate at 8.2 percent, unchanged from the previous month.
It’s difficult to have a reasonable conversation about the economy these days because of its historical impact on presidential elections. The way people view the economy and jobs figures largely depends on their political philosophy/ideology.
Hard-core Republicans and Democrats each have predictable viewpoints which bolster their own political hopes and dreams and cast aspersions on the other.
Republicans say the sluggish economy shows that President Obama’s policies have failed to spark an appropriate recovery and that their presumptive candidate, Mitt Romney, has a better plan and deserves the chance to implement it.
Democrats say recovery is progressing, albeit slowly, and that the recession, which started during a Republican administration, was so deep and destructive that it will take more time for the economy to right itself to the point where unemployment shrinks to more acceptable levels.
Independents, of course, are actually the ones who will ultimately decide the election. And it is they who most severely feel the whiplash over the monthly spin battle. They are those in the vast middle of the political spectrum who understand that the truth about the state of America’s economy is fragile and fuzzy.
They know the economy is indeed growing and recovering from the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. They know it will be a slow process hindered at times by global developments beyond our country’s control. But they’re getting impatient nonetheless, and they’re becoming less confident about their incumbent president’s ability to keep the recovery on course.
They also know that the monthly news on the unemployment rate, whether it’s up, down or unchanged, is only part of larger body of information on which they will ultimately make their voting decision.
That’s the way it should be.
There is a lot to consider when it comes to assessing the overall state of the American economy. The unemployment rate is a factor, and an important one at that. Jobs and joblessness are key personal measures of how well our country is doing.
But ours is a large and diverse country. Some regions are doing better than others. In the Midwest alone, there are stark differences. Indiana’s May jobless rate was 7.9 percent while its neighbor to the east, Ohio, recorded a region’s best 7.3 percent. Meanwhile, to the west, Illinois had a rate of 8.6 percent. Michigan was at 8.5 percent, Kentucky at 8.2 percent.
Even within states, employment numbers can sport wide ranges. Indiana is no exception.
Evaluating statistics is relative to, well, lots of factors. We urge you to take that into account when sizing up the economic future, both your personal stake and the country’s. Political spin will only get you so far.
Editorials
T-S EDITORIAL: Lots of factors to consider when assessing economy
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: MVC tourney an event worth having
It’s been a long time since the Missouri Valley Conference chose Indiana State University to host its post-season baseball tournament, but Terre Haute had never been more prepared for an event such as this.
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EDITORIAL: Cleaning up voter rolls
It’s not a lot of money in the big scheme of things, but the $2 million designated in the recent session of the General Assembly will begin the messy but necessary process of cleaning up Indiana’s voter registration rolls.
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EDITORIAL: Waging the ‘readiness’ campaign
Almost every Hoosier who starts college intends to finish. Unfortunately, those who arrive on campus unprepared in key academic areas are far less likely to fulfill that aspiration.
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
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EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
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EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
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READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
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EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
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EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
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EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
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EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
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EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
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EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
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MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
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EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
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EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
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EDITORIAL: Crack down on dumpers
There is a reason it’s called “illegal” dumping. It’s against the law. And there is a very good reason illegal dumping is against the law.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: MVC tourney an event worth having
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