Is Neutron Jack Welch not so tough after all?

Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch / CBS

When Jack Welch was the CEO GE, he earned the moniker "Neutron Jack" (the nuclear bomb that maximized damage to humans, while leaving buildings standing) for the 100,000 job cuts that he engineered during his tenure. The tough guy boss who claims to "shoot straight from the gut" may have a thinner skin than most would imagine.

Following the September jobs report Friday, Welch suggested via Twitter that the Labor Department data had been manipulated by Obama administration officials (who he called "Chicago guys"). Within minutes of the Tweet, pretty much every reputable economist blasted Welch and called his accusation nonsense. Leading the charge in the Welch criticism was none other than Fortune (and its sister organization CNNMoney), the magazine to which Welch had been a contributor.

In response to the harsh treatment received by his very own publication, Welch announced that he will no longer contribute to Fortune, saying he would get better "traction" elsewhere...like a place that doesn't call him out for spinning his conspiracy theories.

Whether you admired Jack Welch for turning around a moribund industrial giant or you are in the camp of The Big Picture's Barry Ritholtz, who believes that Welch was one of the "luckier, more wildly over-compensated CEOs around" who partook in some good old fashioned cooking of books himself according to the SEC, (how did such a big company come within pennies of earnings estimates quarter after quarter?), the Twitter episode suggests recklessness on the part of a respected business figure.

At a time when the public's trust in government is at an all-time low, conspiracy theories that call into question the work of lifelong civil servants further undermines trust. After the heat was turned up, an alternative path for Welch would have been to write an article that owned up to his mistake and acknowledged that sometimes when you shoot straight from the gut, you bypass the all-important brain. He didn't choose that path.

[stuwerb]

Hit the road, Neutron Jack, and don't you contaminate the facts no more, no more, no more, no more.

[saucymugwump]

Almost none of the many business magazines and newspapers even attempted to explain the September jobs report. It was ludicrous to expect us to believe that 114,000 jobs created could lower the unemployment rate to 7.8%, yet all we heard was outrage that we dared to doubt the BLS conclusions.

Look at the actual BLS report (first URL below). The math simply does not add up until you look at Table A-8 (second URL below), where you discover that 582,000 part-time jobs were magically created. Does that make sense? Of course not.

And then consider the fact that BLS used those part-time jobs to lower the unemployment rate, yet did not include them in the jobs created. Perhaps it is not fraud, but it is certainly highly inconsistent.

Finally, look at the Bloomberg jobs graph (third URL below), especially the employment-population ratio which is a much better indicator of the health of our job market. Obama's job creation is an illusion.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t08.htm
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-04/unemployment-drop-masks-labor-malaise-chart-of-the-day.html
http://saucymugwump.blogspot.com/2012/10/tweedledum-and-tweedledee-dance-to.html

[UnemploymentEditor]

If you look at the Employment rate and the Unemployment rate side by side you will see that the Employment rate went up slightly while the unemployment rate went down drastically. Not possible. See: http://unemploymentdata.com/2012/10/09/jack-welch-unemployment-twitter/

[saucymugwump]

Johnny333333 wrote: "Why your looking into all the facts would you mind fact checking most of Romeny's statments"

Wow, five spelling, punctuation and/or grammatical errors in your first sentence alone!

If you ever read my blog, you would discover that I loathe Republicans and Democrats equally. But you, like most members of political parties today, assume that anyone not 100% with you is 100% against you.

saucymugwump.blogspot.com

[Concerned2009]

This gentleman just needs to fade into obscurity along with the rest of the overpaid, overpowered, overegoed CEO's.

[bobnjersey]

[the Twitter episode suggests recklessness on the part of a respected business figure.]
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looks like he has his own empty chair episode here.

amazing how insistence on sticking w/ an ideological belief can so completely block rational and cognitive reality.

[pcherring]

After four years of a president who would not recognize the truth if it hit him square between the eyes, who does believe any of the figures put out by this administration? Nov.7Th the sky will clear once again.

[bobnjersey]

[who does believe any of the figures put out by this administration? Nov.7Th the sky will clear once again.]
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well then ... maybe everything is actually much better than the numbers suggest.

or is it just that you need to accept only that which fits w/ your already set belief about something ... and anything to the contrary must be explained away w/ some form of rationalization ... like a conspiracy ... or cooking the books.

why would you use the numbers when they were worse to indict 'those you do not agree with' ... but discount them when they now show something better?

why do you suppose you'd be doing that?

[Taitman3]

Don't let facts sway your opinion Bud. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor. The BLS also serves as a statistical resource to the Department of Labor.

[KimmoMustonenen]

Jack Welch is already receiving job offers...

http://*********.com/blogs/chairman/2012/10/09/manka-bros-would-like-to-offer-jack-welch-a-job/

[maistir]

To start with round numbers, 1 million jobs in a labor force of 100 million is 1%, and 100 thousand jobs is 1/10th of 1%.

If 114 thousand jobs are 3/10 of one percent of the labor force, the labor force is 38 million.

To assess the accuracy of the numbers, we need to know the size of the labor force.

The effective unemployment rate (= those counted as unemployed, as part time but seeking full time jobs, and as no longer seeking work) is 14%.

[jimatmadison]

There are some people where it is very clear that the world would be better off if they had never been born.

Jack Welch is obviously one of those people.

[ATLCurtis]

Just another job-killing liar... in the same group with romney. Get used to it folks, if romney is elected, America will never be great again.

[computerflyer]

Facts are in the eyes of the beholder. Once upon a time there were facts, but they were usually disproved by other facts. The fact is this is all partisan spin against the provider of facts, regardless of which partisan party is in power. That is a fact.