Like far too many ostensibly tough-minded journalists of the past hundred years, I.F. Stone could not or would not admit the truth about Stalinist communism, despite its being the horrifying elephant in every room, including salons where to this day leftists spout their arrogant nonsense.

To his credit, however, Stone eventually did issue forceful condemnations, an honorable act that gives all the more credence to one of his observations surely attributable to an inner Mark Twain:

"All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed."

Since that "nothing" includes economic lies told by frauds whose skill in telling untruths is capable of evoking jealously in "the father of lies," we should be especially appreciative of the springtime gift of truth investment professional Grant Williams has given us in "It's All Relative," posted at mauldineconomics.com, where financial guru John Mauldin meticulously sees to it that facts rule the day.

Heeding the injunction that criticism should begin at home, Williams begins his list of "disconnection[s] from reality" by contrasting what the US government says about the job picture with the facts.

As he reports, the government tells us simply and proudly that in February 236,000 new jobs were created in professions, business, construction, and healthcare, sending the unemployment rate down to 7.7%.

What good news! After all, the Fed informs us repeatedly that at 6.5% all will be so well it can put an end to its "highly accommodative monetary policy" (in truthful English, "welfare program for big banks and other deep-pocketed entities").

However, as Williams observes, what the government doesn't tell us is that the number of part-time jobs in February increased by an "amazing" 446,000, meaning that the number of full-time decreased by 276,000.

Now, an America in which part-time jobs dominate job growth is an America in serious decline. But the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth about jobs means nothing to a government religiously devoted to furthering the lie of the "Obama Recovery."

Moreover, Williams notes the government's failure to publicize that in arriving at the unemployment rate, it doesn't count Americans who have dropped out of the labor pool, a huge lie of omission accompanied by another that seeks to keep off the front pages news of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' own charts showing the labor force participation rate has fallen to its level in 1980.

If the dropouts were included, he says, the actual unemployment rate would be 11.3%.

But that very inconvenient number doesn't further the image of Barack Obama as a Transformative Genius.

Furthermore, a little research discovers that if the participation rate today were at its level in 2000, there would be six million more people working, a reality that prompts this question:

What do the real numbers regarding unemployment and underemployment tell us about how much the government is denied in tax receipts as well as how much more it must spend on a burgeoning population who need government assistance in the form of unemployment checks, food stamps, and other kinds of assistance, including the Social Security disability program, whose numbers, since 2009, have rocketed to record highs?

Though the public continues to hope for honesty, it won't get the truth from government because if asked, Obama himself will lie that only bitter troglodytes who cling to guns, religion, and prejudice ask such questions. Then, he'll lecture the nation with the lie that America's minor economic ills can be fixed with another tax increase on the rich.

Happily, Williams' gift doesn't end with an honest look at our nation's job situation; for after laying before us examples of false, expedient reassurances spewed by Europe's political elites, he presents economic truths about nanny states that are the darlings of American liberals.

...For instance, that in 2012's fourth quarter, unemployment in the economic and political catastrophe that is Greece rose to a perverse record of 26% overall, including 57.8% among those under 25.

...That in 2012, depression wracked Spain, Europe fourth largest economy ravaged by unemployment numbers similar to those afflicting Greece, saw its already pernicious debt rise to a record 84% of GDP, with 90.5% projected for 2013.

...That in its recent election, Italy, suffocated mightily by the dual incubi of a massive 126% debt to GDP ratio and a Himalayan-sized mountain of government red tape, "decided to avoid reality" as citizens split among a center-left party poisoned by radical leftists; a party headed by the former "clownish," thoroughly incompetent head of government; and a new reform party headed by a "genuine comedian."

...And that France, Europe's second largest economy, is an economic, social, and political disaster, the proof of which requires us to do only two things:

First, quote Williams that while in 1999, France "sold 7% of world exports," today the "hidden zombie" sells only 3%, a figure that continues to "deteriorate."

Second, report that after assuming office last May with a 59% approval rating, Socialist French President Francois Hollande has seen his approval numbers take an astonishing free fall to 31%.

That's not all Grant Williams says about Europe.

But it's sufficient to warrant our deepest "thank you," for in guiding us to the truth about its nations, he causes us to think about the countless lies of omission our president lies every time he promises how much more beautiful the United States will become after he has transformed it into a European style social democracy.