Economy

The Biden Boom is Well Underway. Will the Media Honestly Report On It?

Posted by on December 9, 2021 at 1:18 pm. 3 Comments :

With nearly a year in the books, the Biden administration is taking stock of the progress made on the issues of most concern to the American people. As usual, the economy tops the list of public priorities with matters relating to jobs, inflation, wages, and making its debut appearance, the supply chain.

Joe Biden, Economy Chart

All of these ingredients are being stirred into a stew that is heavily seasoned with considerations about the holidays and the COVID pandemic. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the populace is anxious and looking forward with some sense of unease. Those doubts are being fanned by the press that has been pushing a decidedly negative perspective. And, of course, Donald Trump, is disgorging his usual litany of lies. The result is that President Biden and the Democrats are registering poorly in most recent polls.

However, when the economic environment is examined more closely, there is actually more cause for hope than despair. An article by Robert J. Shapiro for the Washington Monthly sums it up nicely with the headline, “It’s a Biden Boom — and No One Has Noticed Yet.” The article opens saying that…

“While many people are uncomfortable communicating bad news, Democrats have a problem these days talking about good news, especially on the economy. Based on the data, President Biden and the Democratic Congress are set to preside over the strongest two-year performance on growth, jobs, and income in decades — so long as the current cycle of inflation eases, and the Omicron variant does not trigger another round of shutdowns. The future paths of inflation and the pandemic are large and important unknowns — but if they break right, everything else points to a Biden boom through 2022.”

Shapiro, a former Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs under Bill Clinton, enumerates the reasons for his optimism. They include the fact that…

  • “Over the first three quarters of this year, real GDP increased at a 7.8 percent annual rate.”
  • “From January 20 to December 7, 2021, the S&P 500 Index jumped 21.7 percent.”
  • “From January through October, all wage and salary income paid by private businesses increased 2.4 percent after inflation, compared to gains of 0.3 percent for the comparable period in 2019 and 0.7 percent in 2018.”
  • “5,675,000 Americans who were unemployed when this year began had found new jobs by November.”
  • “The jobless rate fell from 6.3 percent last January to 4.2 percent in November, or by one-third over 11 months.”
  • “Oil prices have fallen by more than 20 percent over the past three weeks.”

Shapiro wonders, then, “Why is Biden’s approval on the economy so far underwater?” His answer is that “Americans’ perceptions of the economy always lag actual economic conditions when those conditions have recently changed.” And he predicts that “if the economy continues to improve…the midterm elections could well unfold during a formidable Biden boom, which certainly would be good news for the Democrats.”

Shapiro’s view is shared by Biden’s Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, who posted this presentation on the current state of the nation’s economics:

That’s enough positive economic news to turn around the dreary perceptions that Americans have of the nation’s economic health. The question is, will the media report this data honestly and with the same frequency and fervor that they have been peddling the mostly temporary bad news? For the sake of the nation, they had better do so.

There is going to be a lot of competing news to deal with. Trump is continuing to be investigated by multiple prosecutorial jurisdictions for everything from inciting an insurrection, to pressuring election officials, to tax fraud. The COVID pandemic will likely remain a significant news story. Washington will be abuzz with decisions by the Supreme Court, and congressional legislation, including bills on voting rights. And next year the midterm elections will decide which party will control the majority in Congress.

But the economy is usually the issue upon which most elections turn. So the responsibility of getting the reporting right is critical to the future welfare of the country. The mood pf the nation when it goes to the polls will determine how every other matter in the nation’s Capitol is resolved. And if the media fails to inform the people about how superbly the economy is performing under Biden, they will be throwing the midterms to the Republicans who have an unparalleled record of dismal economic failure going back for decades.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Deranged Trump Declares that ‘I Developed the Vaccine’ in Lie-Riddled Twitter Tantrum

Posted by on December 4, 2021 at 6:35 pm. 16 Comments :

Donald Trump is, if nothing else, consistent. Although that isn’t a compliment considering that his consistency is related to his being a pathological liar. He distinguished himself as having told more than 30,000 lies during his single term in the White House.

Donald Trump, Insane, Straight Jacket

Since Trump lost reelection a year ago – a reality that he still isn’t able to grasp – he has continued disgorging flagrant falsehoods with unrivaled frequency and fury. Take for example this tweet in which Trump stuffed a surprising number of self-serving fallacies:

“America fell 340,000 jobs short of the very modest expectations set by economists. That’s because Joe Biden is a one trick pony, “Get the Vaccine.” But no one trusts this administration. I developed the vaccine when everyone said it wasn’t possible. Now without “Trump,” that’s their only solution. This administration is destroying America before our very eyes because there is no leadership. Besides my vaccine, this is the administration of no jobs and massive layoffs, high gas and energy prices, high crime, empty shelves, open borders, and a horrendous surrender and evacuation from Afghanistan. A lot of effort and money went into RIGGING the 2020 Presidential Election, only to destroy the Country. Was it worth it?”

If that isn’t a demonstration of someone tweaking on meth, then nothing is. Trump can’t seem to concentrate on a single subject for more than a nanosecond. There must be a medical diagnosis for this psychotic compulsion to enumerate every screwball thing that pops into his head. Never mind that he manages to get everything he’s ranting about wrong.

Trump begins with a criticism of President Biden’s record on job creation. But he immediately segues to the bizarre claim that “I developed the vaccine,” for the coronavirus. Does he also think he beat Neil Armstrong to the moon and wrote all of Shakespeare’s plays?

As for his commentary on jobs, he left out that “the unemployment rate fell sharply to 4.2% from 4.6%, even though the labor force participation rate increased for the month to 61.8%, its highest level since March 2020.” And that “Worker wages climbed for the month, rising 0.26% in November and 4.8% from a year ago.” In fact, as Biden noted on Friday, “in the first 10 full months of my administration, the economy has created 6 million jobs, a record for a new President.”

So Biden can hardly be called a “one trick pony.” And if there were only one trick, successfully reducing the harm caused by a deadly pandemic is a pretty good one. For the record, Trump left office with the worst jobs record in modern history.

The rest of Trump’s tweet was equally dishonest. Gas prices have only risen because the economy has rebounded so well. Crime is not higher relative to prior years. While there were product shortages due to global (not just American) supply chain issues, store shelves are once again full. The borders are not open. The “horrendous surrender” in Afghanistan was negotiated by Trump according to his own National Security Advisor. And Trump’s “Big Lie” about the election being “rigged” continues to be a dangerous fiction that undermines democracy.

The fact that Trump bothers to post tweets like this is further evidence of his emotional instability and his obsessive aspiration to return to a position of authoritarian power. He must not be allowed to succeed. American democracy and freedom depends on defeating Trump and Trumpism.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Grumpy Trump Thumps ‘Broken Old Crow Mitch McConnell’ in Rabid Anti-Build Back Better Rant

Posted by on November 17, 2021 at 11:56 am. 5 Comments :

Prima Donald Trump is once again throwing a temper tantrum over matters that he has utterly no control over, nor anything positive to contribute. And true to form, this petulant outburst by “the most fabulous whiner” (in his own words) is comprised entirely of whining, lying, and insulting his perceived foes.

Donald Trump Pacifier Fox

In a tweet posted by his proxy Twitter persona (who is breaching Twitter’s rules by circumventing Trump’s ban), the Former Guy lashed out with his characteristic rancor at Republican minority leader, Mitch McConnell, for allegedly helping Democrats to pass President Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan in the Senate. Of course, McConnell isn’t doing that at all. While he did vote for the Biden infrastructure bill last week, he hasn’t shown any interest in supporting the Build Back Better bill.

RELATED: Crybaby Trump Whines Impotently About Passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

Nevertheless, Trump was peeved. He began his tirade with his new, childish nickname for McConnell, the “Broken Old Crow,” which he repeated four times in the tweet. He lied about what he said was the $5 trillion price tag of the $1.75 trillion bill, a figure that he attributed to “some people.” And he blamed “McConnell’s incompetence” for “ensuring massive Inflation and the destruction of our Country as we know it.”

If all of things that Trump has said Biden is doing that will “destroy” the country actually did, we would have been crumbled into dust long ago. But the most ridiculous complaint in this tweet was Trump’s insertion of yet another swing at his deranged election fraud allegations:

“This is what happens when you allow a guy who lost an Election to take over the Office of the President. He obviously had no mandate, but they’re changing our Country and everything it stands for.”

Needless to say, it was Trump who lost the election by a whopping seven million votes. And Biden’s agenda has the overwhelming majority support of the American people.

Undeterred, Trump goes on to malign McConnell as “a fool” and then issues an ignorant and impotent order that “he damn well better stop their ‘Dream of Communism Bill'” Which proves again that he has no idea what the word “communism” means. Trump also suggests that McConnell “Use the Debt Ceiling like it should have been used, you Old Broken Crow.” By which he means to threaten the full faith and credit of the United States and send the nation into a recession or worse.

In closing Trump issued another threat, this time aimed at his own party confederates, saying that “Any Republican in the House or Senate who votes for this Bill will never ever get a Trump Endorsement.” Which may, in fact, be a blessing. Trump’s endorsement may help a candidate in a radicalized GOP primary, but it is just as likely to be toxic in the general election.

RELATED: Crybaby Trump Throws Tantrum Over McConnell Plan to Nix Him from Biden Inauguration

While Trump thinks he is advancing the interests of the Republican Party, the reality is that he is diminishing the prospects of incumbent Republicans with his attacks on those he regards as party traitors for voting for his impeachment or for the infrastructure bill. Trump has been busy endorsing obscure primary opponents who often share Trump’s baseless views about 2020 election fraud.

These Trumpist cult disciples hail from the throng of fringe characters who are devoted to Trump’s egomaniacal, anti-democratic, authoritarian aspirations. And in the end, there is no one who appreciates this more than Democrats.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

HUH? Trump Opposes the Democratic Bills Because … They Will Elect More Republicans?

Posted by on September 30, 2021 at 12:23 pm. 2 Comments :

Democrats in Congress are battling with Republicans – and a couple of reticent Democrats – to pass a pair pf bills aimed at keeping the government from shutting down and defaulting on its debt. Republicans are demonstrating their customary hypocrisy with regard to the debt limit, and their blatant and reckless partisanship on funding for critical ongoing operations.

Donald Trump Angry

On Thursday morning there was some chatter in the press about agreements being reached to get the Continuing Resolution passed and keep the government open. But any signal that the government might function efficiently is an automatic trigger to Donald Trump, whose psychotic synapses force him into a perpetually hostile stance. Consequently, upon hearing the news, Trump had his spokes-shill, Liz Harrington (whose proxy Trump tweeting is violating Twitter’s rules against circumventing a ban), hammer out a couple of audaciously dishonest tweets in hopes of undermining the legislative progress.

The first tweet insisted that “This bill must be opposed!” Trump’s reasons for opposition were based on his utterly fictional analysis of the bill, along with a swing at xenophobic fear mongering:

“Snuck into the government funding bill, or CR, the Democrats are trying to pass, and just found, is unlimited money to random, unscreened, unvetted Afghan nationals. Republicans can’t let this happen. […] This is not a “clean” government funding bill. It’s a major immigration rewrite that allows Biden to bring anyone he wants from Afghanistan for the next year—no vetting, no screening, no security—and fly them to your community.”

Absolutely none of that is true. The only reference to Afghans is a clause that permits the federal government to continue operations in support of “individuals evacuated from Afghanistan.” These are the allies who worked with the U.S. military during the twenty year war. They are the same people that Republicans and Fox News complained were being left behind. Now Trump is portraying them as dangerous foes being surreptitiously planted in “your community.”

The second tweet also demanded that the bills be rejected. but this one took a more brazenly political posture:

“If Democrats are able to piece together their huge tax hikes, called by another name, it will mean an additional 40 Republican seats in the House and at least a few additional Republican Senators in the U.S. Senate.”

Without any warning, Trump appears to have changed the subject from the funding and debt ceiling bills, to the infrastructure bills. It is the reconciliation bill that contains a rollback of Trump’s prior tax scam that cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy. However, what is notable in his comment is his belief that those provisions are unpopular and would result in a red wave in the mid-term election next year.

Let’s set aside the fact that the Democratic bills are overwhelmingly favored by broad majorities of voters. If Trump actually believed that passage of the Democratic agenda would result in Republicans retaking both houses of Congress, wouldn’t he welcome that? It would pave the way for his return to the White House in 2024, and then the GOP could enact whatever right-wing wet dreams they have.

Obviously, Trump is rambling incoherently again. He has no idea how Congress works, or how the game of politics is played. His only strategy, no matter the circumstances, is to be virulently opposed to whatever his political foes favor. His one-note ideology can be summarized in the timeless words of one of America’s most renown statesmen…

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Debt Ceiling Dumbass Sean Hannity is Right, Except for Being Wrong About Almost Everything

Posted by on September 29, 2021 at 5:32 pm. NO Comments :

Fox News is taking a rare break from trying to kill off their audience with COVID vaccine disinformation. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t still spreading lies intended to harm their viewers and the nation.

Fox News, Sean Hannity

The current battle in Congress to pass legislation for infrastructure development and economic renewal is consuming much of the news cycle. The plans represent key parts of President Biden’s agenda. So naturally Fox News is weighing in with predictable attacks on anything that the Democrats have proposed or support. And leading the charge is Fox’s Senior Trump-Fluffer, Sean Hannity.

On his nightly hour of liberal bashing and neo-fascism advocacy, Hannity demonstrated why he is so revered by budding totalitarians across the nation. He simultaneously demonstrated his infamous idiocy on pretty much any subject that he addresses.

In this episode, Hannity was canoodling with Newt Gingrich to contrive false narratives about Congress raising the debt ceiling. It’s a usually a routine function that both political parties agree to in order to keep the country from defaulting on its debts. But not this year. Republicans have been adamant that they will not play nice with Democrats, even if it means economic catastrophe. And as a loyal Republican, but a disloyal American, Hannity chimed in saying that…

“They [Democrats] have the House. They have the Senate. They want to spend all this money. Republicans don’t. There’s no opportunity to work with a Republican. I don’t think one Republican should vote to increase it by a penny. Now Democrats are gonna say ‘Oh, you’re gonna shut down the government, and the full faith and credit of the U.S. government is gonna be at stake.’ That’s not true. They have control of Congress. They have control of the purse strings. They get to decide. So it will be up to them whether or not they raise the debt ceiling. Correct?”

Oddly enough, Hannity managed to get something right for a change. Democrats do have majorities in the House and the Senate. And they can pass an increase in the debt ceiling on their own, so long as there are no defections. But everything else Hannity said is not only wrong, but mind-numbingly stupid:

  • First of all, raising the debt ceiling has nothing to do with Democrats wanting to spend money. In fact, it is the money that was already spent during the administration of Donald Trump that that would be covered by the increase.
  • Secondly, Democrats have reached out repeatedly to Republicans to join this ordinarily uncontroversial procedure. Th GOP has refused to go along, insisting that Democrats carry the load by themselves. It’s a tactic designed to blame Democrats after the fact for doing the responsible thing.
  • Thirdly, Hannity’s little charade about the GOP not putting the “full faith and credit of the U.S. government” at risk is a straight up lie, and he knows it. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, then the U.S. cannot pay its obligations. That’s the definition of default, and would send the economy into a tailspin. The anticipation of it has already spooked the stock market.

The only thing that Hannity got right was that Democrats hold majorities in Congress. Although he fails to grasp that the only reason that’s true is because the American people put them there. They also put Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House, defeating Trump by more than seven million votes.

Consequently, this might be a good time to listen to Hannity. His recognition that “[Democrats] have control of Congress, they have control of the purse strings, they get to decide,” should inspire the Democrats to move forward with the rest of their agenda. They should pass the infrastructure bill without help from the GOP. They should pass the reconciliation bill as well. And if they need to dispense with the filibuster to do it, they shouldn’t hesitate.

The Biden/Democratic agenda is overwhelmingly popular with the American people. Passage would create jobs, stimulate the economy, provide benefits for families, children, students, seniors, workers, and more. And Democrats would get all of the credit. That’s a recipe for future victories in 2022, 2024, and beyond. So if there ever a time to take Hannity’s advice, it’s now. Go for it Democrats!

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

PSAKI BOMB: A Doocy Dud on the Booming Biden Economy Gets Demolished

Posted by on August 6, 2021 at 2:35 pm. 3 Comments :

Another day, another humiliating smackdown for Fox News White House cor-despondent, Peter Doocy. If one didn’t know better, it would almost seem like Doocy was a plant in the White House briefing room, providing slow pitches for press secretary Jen Psaki to hit out of the park. Which she does with grace and saintly patience.

Psaki Lightening

During Friday’s daily press briefing the lead topic was the outstanding jobs report released early that morning. The U.S. economy added a higher than expect 943,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4% — the lowest since the pandemic hit more than a year ago.

So naturally, Doocy had to figure out a way to frame his question in the negative. He didn’t do very well. For one thing, his Fox News handlers will not be pleased that he acknowledged that the economy under President Biden is “so great.” According to Donald Trump we should be in a depression by now. But Doocy did manage to spin this good news as something to complain about:

Doocy: If the economy is so great, you guys are celebrating jobs being created at a historic…
Psaki: Wouldn’t you say over 900,000 jobs created is pretty good?
Doocy: So this is my question. Why then is the President still pushing for big relief packages, pandemic-era relief packages like the eviction moratorium?
Psaki: Well, first I would say, one of the biggest pieces of the legislation he’s pushing for as we know is the infrastructure package, and also the Build Back Better agenda. Most of the components in those packages are long-term investments. They’re overdue. They’re meant to modernize our infrastructure, put people back to work over the long-term, and make us competitive over the long-term. It is still a reality, even with a good jobs number this month, and even with four million jobs created over six months, that there are still people out of work. There are still people who don’t have enough money to make ends meet.

This answer would seem so obvious to most people that the question would never even be asked. Just because things are improving, it doesn’t erase the hardships that people have been struggling with for the past year. Particularly those threatened with eviction, wherein the missed rent payments date back several months. Landing a job this week doesn’t pay those back rents or remove the threat of eviction.

The fact that Doocy needs to have this explained to him is a sad testament to his ignorance and unfitness for the job he’s pretending to do. But it’s also typical of his tenure in the White House press corps where he’s also needed help understanding the evolving state of a viral pandemic, or grasping the complexities of inflation. He has virtually made his career by admitting publicly that almost every important field of study is over his head.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

PSAKI BOMB: Jen Psaki Scorches Jim Jordan for Gaslighting on Gas Prices

Posted by on June 21, 2021 at 11:10 am. 2 Comments :

Nothing brightens the dawn of a new day more than the glare on the horizon of new Psaki Bomb, courtesy of President Biden’s illuminating press secretary, Jen Psaki. On a regular basis she enfeebles the hapless White House correspondent from Fox News, Peter Doocy.

Psaki Lightening

However, on Monday morning the Republican Shrieker of the House, Jim Jordan, arose to hammer out a typically dishonest tweet aimed at disparaging Biden and deceiving the public. Unfortunately for Jimmy, Ms. Psaki was awake and aware of his twitter trolling. She replied in the manner that has distinguished her as both brilliant and more than a little snarky:

Indeed. Everyone who is the least bit informed about the economy knows that gas prices were artificially low last year due to that deadly pandemic thingy that caused folks to stay home. With demand down significantly, the gas companies reduced their prices. Now that the nation is reopening for business, people are moving about again, which increases both the demand and the cost of fuel.

Somebody needs to explain these simple concepts to Mr. Jordan. And Ms. Psaki is the perfect teacher. She helpfully included information about the sharply reduced unemployment rate. That’s another result of the Biden administration’s phenomenally successful COVID vaccine program that has enable people to return to the work and leisure activities they enjoyed prior to the pandemic.

Earlier in the day, Psaki was interviewed on CBS This Morning where she reiterated the Biden administration’s opposition to raising gas taxes:

“We need a few more details about the deal and about the proposal, including specifics about how to pay for it. An idea that’s been floating around there, that certainly the President would not support, is a gas tax which would raise taxes on people making less than $400,000.00 a year. We’re just not gonna stand for that. And we’re not gonna accept that.”

When will these right-wing cretins get it that they can’t use tactics that would work on jealous airheads like Kayleigh McEnany on Jen Psaki? The more they try, the more they humiliate themselves. Which, while it makes them look stupid, at least it’s entertaining for the rest of us.

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Closing Rant: Fox News Publishes Trump Op-Ed Filled with Flagrant Lies

Posted by on October 30, 2020 at 12:48 pm. 2 Comments :

With four days left before election day, Donald Trump somehow managed to get Fox News to publish his closing arguments in an op-ed on their website. That should really juice his reelection prospects by putting his views in front of an audience that has heard them a thousand times and is already committed to voting for him.

Donald Trump Fox News

The article is precisely what you would expect from Trump and Fox News. It is riddled with self-serving lies and preposterous allegations against his opponent, Joe Biden. The article is headlined “Donald Trump: Reelect me and I will continue to deliver safety, prosperity and opportunity for all Americans.” So if you are a voter who wants more of the “safety” (280,000 dead), “prosperity” (a nation in recession), and “opportunity” (15 million still unemployed and thousands of businesses bankrupt), then read on. What follows is a collection of some of the ludicrous appeals Trump is throwing at his brainwashed disciples, with brief rebuttals:

“Four years ago, Americans elected me president to go to Washington, drain the swamp and produce real results for them. Now they have a choice: continue the record of prosperity that my administration delivered or return to the old Washington status quo, where Beltway insiders enriched themselves at the expense of hardworking Americans across the country.”

Trump’s idea of prosperity is putting more Americans out of work than ever before. And while his accusation that “the old Washington status quo” sought to enrich themselves has some truth to it, they had nothing on him and his corrupt family of grifters.

“In my first three years in office, our country added more than 7 million new jobs.”

What Trump is leaving out is that in his first three years he presided over the loss of 22 million jobs. So we are still suffering a net loss of 15 million, many of which are permanent.

“My administration’s policies put America in a position to recover quickly from the unforeseen and unprecedented pandemic from China.”

Trump’s policies – or more accurately, lack of policies – have resulted in the world’s worst expansion of the coronavirus pandemic measured by cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Contrary to a recovery, we are currently getting worse, and healthcare experts predict that the worst is yet to come. This is happening as Trump keeps repeating that we have “rounded the turn.”

“Thanks to my emergency economic relief legislation, more than 159 million Americans received direct financial assistance during the pandemic.”

For the record, that emergency economic relief legislation was produced by the Democrats in Congress and was opposed by Trump and the Republicans for most of the time it was being debated. They continue to block new legislation for additional, much-need relief.

“The American economy grew at an annualized rate of 33.1 percent in the third quarter, another example of the economy beating expectations under my leadership.”

Once again, Trump is leaving out the most important part. The economy shrunk by more than 36% prior to this quarter. So we are still in a financial hole, and worse off than before the pandemic hit.

“The largest threat to our great American comeback is a Joe Biden presidency. Biden is running on a platform that would destroy all our economic progress.”

That’s not what most economists are saying. Goldman Sachs recently wrote that “a blue wave would likely prompt us to upgrade our forecasts.” Moody’s wrote that “Biden’s economic proposals, if enacted, would create 7.4 million more jobs than would Trump’s.”

“Joe Biden has openly pledged to eliminate my tax cuts for middle-income Americans, implement radical environmental regulations that would bring our domestic energy revolution to an abrupt halt, and bring back Obama’s disastrous health care calamity.”

Indeed, Biden has pledged to reverse Trump’s Tax Scam for the Rich, which didn’t help the middle-class. Biden also favors an environmental agenda and a healthcare package that Trump is actively opposing, but which the majority of Americans support.

“Biden’s scare tactics extend to America’s seniors with false claims about my record on Social Security.”

The claims about Trump’s record on Social Security come straight form his own lips. He is trying to eliminate the Payroll tax that funds Social Security, and without which it would go bankrupt by 2023.

Trump closes his op-ed with a familiar promise that “we will make America great again.” But if he hasn’t done that in the past four years, why would anyone think he’s going to do it in the next four? In fact, it’s an admission that he’s failed, which is abundantly clear even without his admission. The American people know that the only way to make America great again is to throw Trump out of office let Biden try to fix the problems Trump created. And that’s precisely what they are preparing to do next week.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Floundering Trump Frantically and Falsely Spins Economic Data

Posted by on October 29, 2020 at 12:28 pm. 2 Comments :

With less than a week to go before election day, and Trump’s prospects trending worse by the day, his desperation is becoming ever more apparent and bizarre. He’s complaining about “COVID, COVID, COVID” getting more press than he does. And he’s pushing ludicrous and unfounded conspiracy theories (with the help of Fox News).

Donald Trump, Stock Market

Trump’s arm must be getting sore as he stretches to grasp any bit of support he can cling to. In the process he’s actually alienating more voters than he’s attracting. That’s what happens when you brag about only losing 780,000 jobs in a week, or telling his female rally attendees that he will “get your husbands back to work.” And it doesn’t help that Trump thinks the new Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report is good news:

Trump is actually right that the number is one of the biggest ever reported. But that’s only because he has also presided over the worst numbers ever reported. In fact, the 7.4% (33% annualized) gain is less than the 36% decline that preceded it. So we are actually performing worse economically than we were before the coronavirus hit. If you score five runs in the ninth inning, that’s a pretty good inning. But if you gave up ten runs in the eighth, you’re still going to lose the game. For some reason, Trump failed to mention that in his tweet.

In the same tweet, however, Trump also failed to tell the truth (surprise) about Joe Biden’s tax plan. It is hardly “record setting.” It doesn’t even completely reverse Trump’s Tax Scam for Rich. But it does restore some measure of fairness.

It’s also interesting that Trump says that he’s “glad this great GDP number came out before November 3rd.” Notice that he isn’t glad the number was positive. He isn’t glad that it may be an indicator of some economic relief for the long suffering American people that his negligence and incompetence have hurt so badly. He’s only glad that it came out in time to possibly help him get reelected. Although it is likely too late for that, it shows where his priorities are.

For the record, the nation is still in recession. There are still record numbers of people unemployed, and many of those job losses are permanent. Small businesses and farms have gone bankrupt. Savings for seniors and others on fixed incomes are earning next to nothing on interest. Even worse, Trump is trying to terminate the Payroll tax that funds Social Security, which would bankrupt the program by 2023.

Trump likes to claim that he’s responsible for any gains in the stock market and that Biden would be a “disaster.” But not only is the stock market not representative of the broader economy, no president controls it. It’s a function of investors predicting how business will perform in the future.

However, to the extent that those predictions are based on policies put forward by a president, the market’s rise is actually a vote for Joe Biden. That is who Wall Street is anticipating will be president next year, and they regard that as a positive development for the economy. Which makes Trump’s assertion that “Next year will be FANTASTIC!!!” the only true comment in his tweet.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump Hails Stock Market Whose Rise is a Rejection of Him

Posted by on October 12, 2020 at 1:21 pm. NO Comments :

The manic frenzy that is displayed daily on the Twitter feed of Donald Trump is especially heated this Monday morning. He posted 75 tweets before 3:00pm in what may break his all time record of 123 tweets in single day. It’s impossible to say at this point whether the reason for this crazed output is his acute panic at the prospect of a landslide electoral loss to Joe Biden in three weeks, or the side effects of the drugs he’s been taking to treat his coronavirus. Or maybe a catastrophic combination of both.

Donald Trump, Stock Market Crash

The flurry of frantic and anxious outbursts that make up this tweetstorm run the gamut of Trump’s paranoid psychoses. For instance, Trump tweeted about a “Big spike in the China Plague in Europe,” in an attempt to compare it to the U.S., which he apparently doesn’t know is suffering from a similar or worse spike. He tweeted that New York and California are “going to hell.” Which is an odd campaign strategy of maligning the biggest states in the country that you’re supposedly leading. He tweeted that he is “winning BIG in all of the polls that matter.” Which I guess are the polls of boaters and maskless bar patrons. But he wasn’t through.

Trump also tweeted that “We will have Healthcare which is FAR BETTER than ObamaCare, at a FAR LOWER COST.” Which is documented in the invisible plan that he has been saying for three years that he will release in two weeks. And as an indication of what is most important to him, Trump posted ten tweets in support of Eric Early, who running a laughably futile campaign against Rep. Adam Schiff of California. Schiff may be the member of Congress Trump despises most after Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That’s more tweets than he posted in support of his Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.

However, perhaps the most enthusiastic of Trump’s twittery concerned the performance of the stock market. He managed to get something right for once by noting that it was going up. However, he has no idea why it’s doing so. He, of course, thinks he’s responsible for it. And in a way he is, but not in the way he thinks.

Trump has been shouting from the White House rooftop for weeks that a Biden presidency will thrust the nation into a depression. Let’s just set aside the fact that we are already in a recession during the Trump presidency. Trump’s tweets are cheering on the market’s rise along with fear mongering about a collapse if Biden is elected. Never mind that Obama and Biden presided over a much more robust economic recovery and market advance than Trump has. The five tweets he posted on this subject were evidence of nothing more than Trump’s ignorance and ego. For example…

What Trump is missing is that the rise in the market is occurring simultaneously to the rise in Biden’s polling against Trump. The greater the margin of Biden’s lead, the higher the market goes. That’s the market indicating that it is looking forward to a Biden victory. The market is always representative of the future. And this isn’t just a coincidental observation. According to Goldman Sachs, “A Democratic sweep would mean faster economic recovery.”

“…’a blue wave would likely prompt us to upgrade our forecasts,’ Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius wrote in a Monday report.”

Hatzius went on to note that a blue wave would increase the likelihood of a coronavirus relief bill. He also noted the positive impact of Biden’s spending plans on infrastructure, climate, health care and education. But that isn’t all. Moody’s also weighed in saying that…

“Moody’s Analytics found that Biden’s economic proposals, if enacted, would create 7.4 million more jobs than would Trump’s. The economy would return to full employment in the second half of 2022, nearly two years earlier than under Trump’s plan, Moody’s said.”

Of course, none of this is a guarantee that the market will continue going straight up. There are distinct warning signs for a down turn. The market is already over-valued in some analysts opinions. And the overweighting of just a few stocks (more than 20% of the S&P) that uncharacteristically benefit from the current conditions (Apple: 7.3%, Microsoft: 5.9%, Amazon: 5.3%, Google: 2.4%, and Facebook: 2.4%) don’t tell the market’s whole story. And as anyone with the slightest inkling of knowledge is aware (which leaves Trump out), the stock market is not the economy. Most Americans do not own stocks.

There is, however, one thing that can’t be denied. If Trump’s fear mongering were correct, the market would have been on a downward trend for at least the past couple of months. Clearly the financial institutions that drive the market don’t agree with Trump. The fact that it’s strong and rising is a testament to the market’s confidence in, and preference for, a Biden presidency.

So keep that in mind when voting. And tell your friends and family. It is Trump who has proven to be an economic imbecile who declared bankruptcy on six separate occasions, lost billions of dollars during the boom times, and currently owes more than $400 billion to – well, we don’t know who because he refuses to release his tax returns. That by itself is reason enough to remove Trump from office. And also to investigate him for criminal activity and crimes against the state.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.