The biggest advantage the Republicans will have in 2020 is a strong economy. Because the Democrats know this, they are trying very hard to downplay the economic recovery that is currently taking place. They have invented some interesting facts in their attempt to do this. However, the alternative media has learned to fact check these attempts to downplay President Trump’s economic success.<\/p>\n
Townhall<\/a> posted an article today that includes some recent fact checking.<\/p>\n The article reports on some recent statement by Kamala Harris:<\/p>\n First, I’m not sure many economists or Republicans cite the stock market as the top indicator of economic health, despite her initial straw man claim. There are many other metrics that are more indicative and more helpful to building that argument, which we’ll mention in a moment. \u00a0But it’s also worth pointing out that a robust stock market is not merely good news for people who own stocks, as Harris sarcastically says. \u00a0Plenty of workers’ benefit and retirement funds, including those of many public sector<\/a> employees, are tied into<\/a> the performance of the stock market — so it’s not just investors who benefit when markets are humming along, and it’s not just investors who feel pain when markets sustain hits.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Second, in her attempt to downplay the impressive, stable and low US unemployment rate, Harris recycles a claim for which AOC was slapped down<\/a> by fact-checkers a few months ago. \u00a0Even left-leaning Politifact assigned her a “pants on fire<\/a>” rating. \u00a0Harris’ spin is less explicitly clumsy and wrong than AOC’s, as she didn’t specifically state that the low rate is directly attributable to people working more than one job, which makes absolutely no sense — but she does<\/em> use this argument to undercut the (compelling) argument that the economy is in good shape because so many Americans are employed. \u00a0While it’s certainly true that a substantial number of people are working multiple jobs in order to make ends meet, it’s not accurate<\/a> to pretend that this phenomenon is sufficiently widespread as to justify Harris’ talking point.<\/strong><\/p>\n The article further reports:<\/p>\n The February jobs report<\/a> found that just five percent of the employed population is working more than one job, down from 5.2 percent one year ago. \u00a0The experiences of the people who constitute that five percent matter, of course, but they are not evidence of a larger trend — and certainly not a trend that represents a real basis to shrug off the historically-low unemployment rate. \u00a0The jobs report that came out on Friday was a major ‘miss’<\/a> on a key number, with the US economy adding only 20,000 jobs last month; economists were expecting 180,000. \u00a0That’s a potentially concerning data point, underscoring the folly of simply assuming that the current prosperity streak will continue unabated. \u00a0But there were positive statistics, too. \u00a0The previous two months’ job creation data was revised upward by 12,000, and the overall unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent. \u00a0That marks 12 consecutive months, a full year, with the U3 figure at or below four percent, which is unambiguously good.<\/strong><\/p>\n The article concludes:<\/p>\n Sustainability is a fair worry for the White House, but as of this moment, the most useful measuring sticks of the US economy are unemployment (3.8 percent), GDP growth (3.1 percent Q4 to Q4<\/a>), and wage growth (3.4 percent). \u00a0All three are impressive. \u00a0Harris’ snarky point, therefore, is weak. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n As wages and jobs increase, voters will have to decide whether to believe what they are experiencing or what they are being told.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The biggest advantage the Republicans will have in 2020 is a strong economy. Because the Democrats know this, they are trying very hard to downplay the economic recovery that is currently taking place. They have invented some interesting facts in … Continue reading