. >>> we want to give credit for this segment to a 19th century british prime minister, benjamin disraelihree kinds of lies -- lies, damn lies, and statistics. this segment is about the unemployment rate. it fell from 9% to 8.6% last month. >> we learned that our economy added another 140,000 private sector jobs in november. the unemployment rate went down. and despite some strong headwinds this year, the american economy has now created in the private sector jobs for the past 21 months in a row. >> all absolutely true. as is this -- >> the obama administration promised unemployment would not exceed 8% if we passed another stimulus bill. that promise has gone unfulfilled. more than 300,000 americans left the labor force last month. that means they stopped looking for work. i think we should all be concerned about that. >> disraeli's point was the frequency with which statistics are used to back up weak arguments. who's on the wrong side of this equation? stats and politics with our panel of experts next. >>> joining me to talk a potpourri of politics and the economy -- alice rivlin, direc