We should all thank Twitter for a world where powerful people can say delightfully crazy things without the silly filter of public relations professional protecting their reputation. This morning, in response to a promising jobs report, Former CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch, accused President Obama of manipulating the numbers. “Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers,” he tweeted. His bold conspiracy theory inspired the outer rim of conservatives to come out of the woodwork to defend him, and an equally entertaining response from prominent economists–all of which we’ve posted below for your friday enjoyment.
Austan Goolsbee, Former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, was up at bat first, quickly retorting:
love ya jack but here you’ve lost your mind @jack_welch Unbelievable jobs #s. the Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate, change #s — Austan Goolsbee (@Austan_Goolsbee) October 5, 2012
Reuters Financial Blogger, Felix Salmon, was a close second:
I’ll give @jack_welch this: he is now way ahead of @rupertmurdoch in the crazy-old-man-on-twitter league tables — felix salmon (@felixsalmon) October 5, 2012
But, thankfully, reasonableness didn’t stop defenders of Welch with a hair-trigger mouse finger and an Internet connection.
Representative Allen West, who once said that there were “78 to 81 members of the Democrat Party who are members of the Communist Party,” tweeted:
In regards to today’s Jobs report—I agree with former GE CEO Jack Welch, Chicago style politics is at work here…tinyurl.com/9rbommz
— Allen West (@AllenWest) October 5, 2012
Conn Carroll, Washington Examiner senior writer, thought it was a much (much) bigger conspiracy of Democrats around the country lying about their employment status:
I don’t think BLS cooked numbers. I think a bunch of Dems lied about getting jobs. That would have same effect.
— Conn Carroll (@conncarroll) October 5, 2012
Fox News’ Stuart Varney thought the jobs report was too “convenient”:
Frequent Fox News guest, Laura Ingraham, was a tad more blunt
Jobs #s from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are total pro-Obama propaganda–labor force participation rate at 30-yr low. Abysmal! — Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) October 5, 2012
The whole crazy parade prompted Washington Post economics blogger, Ezra Klein, to write a post debunking the myth
And yes, the fact that this post even needed to be written is depressing. washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-kle…
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) October 5, 2012
An aide to Welch said he couldn’t give comment because he was in a meeting. We imagine Jack Welch is helping Big Bird plan for retirement.