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Democratic Convention Night 2 - FactCheck.org

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SummaryIt was another unconventional night for fact-checkers at the truncated Democratic National Convention that has been forced to go virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic.But we found a few statements to write about, including a misleading claim about the U.S. unemployment rate and auto industry bailout claims that don’t tell the whole story.AnalysisOn the night the Democratic Party formally nominated former Vice President Joe Biden as the party’s 2020 presidential nominee, two former U.S. presidents spoke — Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.Clinton’s Misleading and Meaningless Unemployment ClaimClinton, who uncharacteristically for less than five minutes, made a misleading claim when he said that the U.S. is “the only major industrial economy to have its unemployment rate triple” because of President Donald Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.It’s true that the listed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show the U.S. jobless rate nearly tripling between January and the most recent month on record. The next-largest increase was a near-doubling of the rate in Canada.But his comparison is meaningless — rather like comparing apples to kumquats. That’s because the even if the layoff is expected to be temporary — while many others do not. In July, those on “temporary layoff” accounted for 56% of all those counted as “unemployed” in the U.S., the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Clinton referred specifically to one of the countries that doesn’t include those temporarily laid off in their count of the jobless, saying the U.S. rate is “two and a half times the United Kingdom’s.”It’s true that the U.K. currently lists its unemployment rate as only 3.9% compared with the U.S. rate of 10.2%. But, unlike the U.S., the U.K. doesn’t count those on temporary layoff as unemployed.U.K. Office for National Statistics, August: Workers furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme … have a reasonable expectation of returning to their jobs after a temporary period of absence. Therefore they are classified as employed.And that’s not the only factor making Clinton’s comparison misleading. Other countries — — have met the COVID-19 crisis by subsidizing employers to keep workers on the payroll even when there is less work to do. In the U.S., the main approach has been to increase benefits paid to laid-off workers through unemployment insurance.The which was released in July, notes that the U.S. has had a far higher unemployment rate during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with other OECD countries, saying the difference in rates “reflects fundamental differences in countries’ policy mix to cushion the economic and social effects of the crisis.”“The United States are strongly relying on unemployment insurance benefits to secure the income of workers who lose their jobs, even in the case of a temporary crisis,” the report said. “Meanwhile, other OECD countries, not just in Europe, are making heavy use of job retention schemes, which allow companies to cut hours of work, or even halt work entirely, while keeping their workers attached.”Auto BailoutMichigan lawmakers praised Biden for his role in helping to rescue the auto industry after the Great Recession. It’s worth noting that while this remains a signature accomplishment of the Obama administration, the effort began under former President George W. Bush.In a featuring several young Democratic politicians, Michigan state Rep. : “When the auto industry was going under, Joe stuck his neck out to protect it and helped save 1.5 million auto jobs.” Later, during the roll call of the states, Michigan U.S. Sen. , “Michigan auto workers are the best in the world. But we’d be nowhere without Joe Biden. And a lot of folks wanted to let Detroit go bankrupt. But Joe Biden believed in us, and together we fought to save our auto industry.”As , the auto industry effort began on Dec. 19, 2008, when then-President Bush that his administration would provide General Motors and Chrysler with $13.4 billion in loans under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, with another $4 billion to GM to come once Congress approved releasing the second half of the TARP money. The money , most notably the that the automakers come up with a long-term viability plan by March 31, 2009.Fast-forward to March 30, 2009, when then-President Barack Obama the companies’ viability plans, but then announced a&nbsp;on April 30 and a&nbsp;on June 1. Those plans allowed the automakers to restructure and get more federal aid.In the end, the Treasury Department about $80 billion in the industry and recouped most of it. Treasury says the rescue of the industry ended up costing the government $9.3 billion.As for Manoogian’s claim that Biden “helped save 1.5 million auto jobs,” that’s backed up by an estimate from the Center for Automotive Research. The group’s said the auto bailout saved 1.5 million jobs in 2010, including those at GM, Chrysler, auto suppliers and “spin-off employment losses” due to “reduced spending in the U.S. economy.”The report credited both the Bush and Obama administrations.“Two consecutive executive administrations in Washington decided in late 2008 and early 2009 that the consequences of the potential losses and outcomes to the U.S. economy and people described above were worth avoiding through a federal intervention,” the report said. “CAR is confident that in the years ahead, this peacetime intervention in the private sector by the U.S. government will be seen as one of the most successful in U.S. economic history.”Trump and the New HoaxIn welcoming viewers to the second night of the convention, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett of the Democrats, “Unlike the president, we’ve never called COVID-19 a hoax.” As we have , it is true that Trump said the novel coronavirus was the But the president has said he was talking about the Democrats’ criticism of how he had handled the pandemic, not the disease itself.Then the president, who oftenspecial counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation as a hoax, made his “new hoax” remark.Democrats quickly seized on the remark. Joe Biden, now the Democratic presidential nominee, described the president’s comments as “absolutely bizarre.”“Look, this is a serious, serious problem,” BidenMSNBC on Feb. 29. “It’s able to be solved, but it requires us to be absolutely level-headed and let the scientists have the lead in all of this. But for him to start talking about it being a hoax is absolutely dangerous. It’s just not a decent way to act.”In the wake of the criticism, Trumpat a press conference on Feb. 29 that he used the term “hoax” to refer not to the coronavirus itself but to Democrats’ criticism of how his administration had responded to it.Asked if he regretted using that particular word, he replied: “No, no, no. ‘Hoax’ referring to the action that they take to try and pin this on somebody, because we’ve done such a good job. The hoax is on them, not — I’m not talking about what’s happening here; I’m talking what they’re doing. That’s the hoax. That’s just a continuation of the hoax, whether it’s the impeachment hoax or the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ hoax. This is what I’m talking about. Certainly not referring to this. How could anybody refer to this? This is very serious stuffSourcesOrganization for Economic Co-operation and Development. “” Data accessed 18 Aug 2020.US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “” 7 Aug 2020.US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “” 7 Aug 2020.UK Office for National Statistics.”” 11 Aug 2020Asen, Elke&nbsp; “” Tax Foundation. 25 Mar 2020.Robertson, Lori, et. al. “.” FactCheck.org. 21 Mar 2012.Stolberg, Sheryl Gay and Bill Vlasic. “.” New York Times. 30 Mar 2009.Rutenberg, Jim and Bill Vlasic. “.” New York Times. 30 Apr 2009.U.S. Department of the Treasury. . treasury.gov. last updated 8 Jan 2015.McAlinden, Sean P. and Menk, Debra Maranger. “.” Center for Automotive Research. 5 Dec 2013.Rieder, Rem. FactCheck.org. 3 Mar 2020.Trump, Donald. Charleston, S.C., Rally.28 Feb 2020.Farley, Robert. FactCheck.org. 23 Jul 2018.Gregorian, Dareh. MSNBC. 29 Feb 2020.NBC. 29 Feb 2020.Trump, Donald. Coronavirus Update. 29 Feb 2020.Ask SciCheckQ. Are vaccinated and boosted people more susceptible to infection or disease with the omicron variant than unvaccinated people?A. No. Getting vaccinated increases your protection against COVID-19. Sometimes, certain raw data can suggest otherwise, but that information cannot be used to determine how well a vaccine works.Have a question?

SummaryIt was another unconventional night for fact-checkers at the truncated Democratic National Convention that has been forced to go virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic.But we found a few statements to write about, including a misleading claim about the U.S. unemployment rate and auto industry bailout claims that don’t tell the whole story.AnalysisOn the night the Democratic Party formally nominated former Vice President Joe Biden as the party’s 2020 presidential nominee, two former U.S. presidents spoke — Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.Clinton’s Misleading and Meaningless...

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