March 4, 2020 141 PM
It has been stated in more ways than one that if you place all the economists end to end, they would never reach a conclusion. The English prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), once said, “There are liars, damned liars, and statisticians.” Simply put, numbers are easy to both manipulate and confuse the facts. President Tweet has claimed repeatedly that it is his policies that have created the great economic successes of the past three years. If you look closely at his statements you see that his ramblings are nothing but candy-coated cow patties, and you might even say his economic views are “Trumped-up.” Here are a few facts to set the record straight; you can check these facts at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A recent study on poverty and a new way of measuring the quality of jobs show the foolishness of GOP claims about the U.S. economy. Poverty went up in at least one county in every state, concentrated in rural areas and the South. And a new system of measurement called the Job Quality Index shows that, although there are jobs available, for the most part, they are low paying and part-time jobs, with few, if any, benefits.
Today, leisure & hospitality is our largest sector with 14.7 million non-management employees. President Tweet has claimed that he has raised the basic earning of the lowest income earners with his tax cut. In fact, he fails to realize that the lowest income earners have been unable to keep up with the economy for the past three decades, and their tax breaks amount to pennies compared to the major international corporations and the top 2% of the country’s wealthiest.
After President Tweet started a tariff war, China retaliated with tariffs that were devastating to U.S. farmers. Despite $28 billion in farm subsidies in the last two years (much of which went to large agriculture corporations, some foreign-owned), farm bankruptcies surged, especially in the Midwest. President Tweet has denounced socialism and yet what are subsidies to farmers?
His tax cuts for the top 2% wage earners and the international corporations have rocketed us toward a $1 trillion deficit and has raised our national debt. Here are a few more debt problems facing our country:
The record $14 trillion in debt that Americans owe is spread across mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, student loans and other forms of debt. By themselves, student loans make up $1.5 trillion of the debt total. And medical costs are still growing faster than income — medical costs have gone up 33% since 2009.
Republicans have repeatedly claimed that the Obama Administrationleft the country in a dismal state. However, here are a few facts:
During Trump’s first 36 months in office, the U.S. economy gained 6.6 million jobs. But during a comparable 36-month period at the end of Obama’s tenure, employers added 8.1 million jobs, or 23% more than what has been added since Trump took office.
The average monthly gain so far under Trump is 182,000 jobs. During the last 36 months under Obama, employers were adding an average of 224,000 jobs a month.
At this point in his first and only term, Jimmy Carter had enjoyed a gain of about 10.1 million jobs. Employers added 8.5 million jobs during the first 36 months of Bill Clinton’s term and 7.8 million jobs during the first 36 months of Lyndon Johnson’s tenure, even though the labor force at that time was less than half the size of what it is today.
As a licensed attorney for 30 years, I understand the old platitude, “The devil is in the details.” So, be sure and check the numbers for yourself. Between Wikipedia, Google, USAfacts.org, and the appropriate federal website, you can confirm anything the Russians make up.
