Ron Christie: The numbers don't lie

"Here's what Vice President Joe Biden noted in a speech released yesterday by the White House quoted by the Post:

"'The Recovery Act has played a significant role in changing the trajectory of our economy and changing the conversation about the economy in this country,' Biden said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. 'Instead of talking about the beginning of a depression, we are talking about the end of a recession.'

"Well, the Labor Department just released the unemployment numbers a few moments ago and unemployment is now at 9.7 percent — the highest level in our nation since June 1983. More than 216,000 Americans lost their job last month and nearly one out of every 10 Americans is out of a job, and the administration is crowing about how the pork-laden stimulus bill is 'changing the trajectory of our economy and changing the conversation about the economy?'

"So far as I can see, the trajectory of unemployment continues to rise and the conversations I hear about people keeping their jobs remains tense. As for the White House? Its numbers and rosy optimism just don't add up."