The Tribune has had plenty of cherry-picked data to prove some political viewpoint during this political season.

With that said, here’s my cherry-picked data for readers to ponder. What the following information shows is that unemployment and debt are in the hands of Congress, not the the president.

The following figures represent historical data from 1948 to 2010 and was found at davemanuel.com.

Average unemployment rate when one party is controlling both the House and the Senate:

Republican House and Senate control

Total months: 132

Average unemployment rate: 4.9 percent

Democratic House and Senate control

Total months: 500

Average unemployment Rate: 5.7 percent

Average unemployment rate when one party controls the House and Senate but doesn’t have the White House:

Republican House and Senate control but Democratic president

Total months: 84

Average Unemployment Rate: 4.6 percent

Democratic House and Senate control but Republican president

Total months: 264

Average unemployment rate: 5.7

The effect of congressional control on debt is as follows:

From 1995 to 2000 debt went down with Republican control of Congress.

Up in 2001 with Republican control.

Debt up in 2002 and 2003 with Republican control of House and Dem control of Senate.

From 2004 to 2007 debt went down with Republican congressional control, then an incredibly steep climb from ’08 to ’09 with Democratic control.

You can see a graph of national debt based on which party controls Congress at:

www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2327185/posts

Maybe Tuesday’s election will put us back on track.

Maybe.

Tom Jacobson

Albert Lea