God I hate this fucking douche. It was bad enough when he headed Bush's Ministry of Information. I seriously almost punched a hole in my TV when he came on CNN last month.The unemplyment rate in the U.S. rose to 10.2% in October from 9.8% in September. The spike is higher than many economists predicted. Most forecasted 9.9% unemployment for last month. This marks the first time the rate has risen above 10% since 1983. Despite the economy growing in the third quarter, the labor market is still hurting from the recession.

October yielded a net loss of 190,000 jobs which is an improvement from the 210,000 jobs lost in September.

So, I think I'll pull a G-dubya and launch a pre-emptive strike before Ari Fleischer manages to get on CNN again. Here goes.

Despite losing fewer jobs than last month, conservative pundits are sure to reitereate that the economy has gotten worse under President Obama. Technically, while the unemployment rate has risen, the rate of jobs lost has slowed; so, it's very misleading to say, outright, that the economy has declined on his watch (I'm looking at you Ari).

Really, the economy was already in the crapper when he took office and during his term it has improved. If you look at the job loss numbers reasonably -- you know, kind of like you have some fucking sense -- you should come to the same conclusion. Thanks to assholes like Ari Fleischer, I feel compelled to explain this in simple, straightforward terms.

If you think, for one second, that the sole definition of improvement is going from red ink to black ink, you're an idiot. Let me reiterate. If you think that for improvement to occur one must go from a deficit to a surplus, you need to steal the nearest 3rd grader's math book. If your business nets -$239,000 (a loss) in September, but in October it yields -$93,000 (still a loss) that's an improvement. Although you're still losing money, your business is getting better. I'd rather bleed $93,000 than $239,000 and so would anybody else of sound mind. Obviously Ari isn't included. That's okay though. His fledgling attempts to stay relevant are at least somewhat entertaining.

Anyways, part of the reason the unemployment rate jumped so high was because of numerous people no longer listing themselves as self-employed. Also, the teen unemployment rate rocketed to 27.6%. Both of these demographics have been historically difficult to survey, and the surge in the numbers helps explain why the unemployment rate rose so high despite fewer jobs lost.

So, let's keep things in perspective. I'm not thrilled with the rate of economic improvement but it could be a lot worse. Let's be realistic people. And for my Vizio's sake, I may have to just change the channel next time ol' Ari comes on the tube.