Popular Economics Weekly
September’s unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent but reported just
12,000 new payroll jobs due to the hurricanes and Boeing aircraft strike of
30,000 machinists.
Total nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged in October
(+12,000), following an average monthly gain of 194,000 over the prior 12
months, said the
BLS. In October, employment continued to trend up in health care and
government. Temporary help services lost jobs. Employment declined in
manufacturing due to strike activity.
That makes it a sure thing the Fed will continue to lower short-term rates at
their November FOMC meeting. Also that economic growth will continue into the
new year.
Health care added 52,000 jobs in October, in line with the average monthly
gain of 58,000 over the prior 12 months. Governments added 40,000 jobs but
manufacturing lost 46,000 jobs, which is probably because of the Boeing
strike.
Calculated Risk’s graph shows us just how good President Biden’s Bidenomics
policies have been. More than 16 million jobs have been created since January
2021 as we returned to work from the brief COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
But with the Presidential election upon us, our future prosperity is still in
doubt. We should take Elon Musk at his word when he said at the Madison Garden
rally that he would cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget if Trump
wins, and he is appointed efficiency czar. It would lead to economic disaster,
even for his Billionaire supporters.
“After all, it is mathematically impossible to cut taxes for corporations
and billionaires, sustain basic programs like defense and Social Security, and
lower the deficit simultaneously,” said Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz in
Project-Syndicate.
And we should believe what Trump says, according to Mary Trump, his
niece, as Trump becomes more irrational, threatening anyone he now perceives as
his enemy, including Taylor Swift, so that her boyfriend Kansas City footballer
Travis Kelce has told him not to mess with his girl!
“Donald Trump is offering a vision of crony rentier capitalism that has
enticed many captains of industry and finance. In catering to their wishes for
more tax cuts and less regulation, he would make most Americans’ lives poorer,
harder, and shorter,” said Stiglitz.
Timothy Snyder in the introduction of On Freedom, the sequel to his
best-selling On Tyranny, tells us why we have a sociopath bordering on
psychopathy as the Republican Party candidate for President of the United States
of America.
“Deep into a century that was the stuff of dreams in the 1970s, and the
subject of confident predictions in the 1990s, we find ourselves at a turning
point. Whether we will be free will depend on us—not just on what we do, but on
why we do it: our ideals.”
It’s a sad commentary that one of our political parties chose a leader that
wants to tear down those institutions that have preserved our democracy; created properity for many; then attack the Capital on January 6 to attempt to overturn the 2020 election,.
Harlan Green © 2024
Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen
