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Nancy Smith

Lowest Unemployment Rate in 50 Years: Is Trump's Economic Agenda Working?

October 6, 2018 - 6:00am

News on most days comes straight out of President Trump's smartphone. Everything else is scraps.

But not so Friday, when the news was dominated by the Brett Kavanaugh drama over in the Senate, closely followed by the Department of Labor's fairly significant national unemployment milestone.

It's that milestone I want to talk about.

The Department announced Friday that September's jobless rate fell to its lowest level since the Vietnam War -- with little indication it's going to shoot back up in the near term. The Wall Street Journal and any number of national networks gave the story extensive coverage.

Not only did unemployment dip to 3.7 percent, something the country hasn't seen since December 1969, but employers added 134,000 new jobs to their payrolls. OK, that fell short of a predicted 180,000 jobs, but analysts claim a good-news wartime phenomenon kicked in that explains the shortfall: In many areas there are more openings than there are employees to fill them. 

The market for those seeking employment is the best it's been in 18 years, says the WSJ.

Ordinary Americans picked up on this, if you watched network news programs Friday. And guess who got the credit?

"Say what you want about President Trump, he's doing what he said he would do," said a New York cab driver on Friday, interviewed by one of the networks.

The market for those seeking employment: best in 18 years
The market for those seeking employment: best in 18 years

An interviewer asked a woman walking into a store near Times Square if she had heard about the newest unemployment rate and if she thought President Trump had anything to do with it. She had, and she did. "I think Donald Trump is a bad person," she said, "but some of his economic ideas are very interesting and I like the way he's standing up to the world."

She said she didn't vote for him in 2016, but "as it stands now, I will vote for him in 2020 even though I hate the way he talks. He makes me feel good about the way the country is going."

There's nothing like stout economic news to endear Americans to their president. It's news like this, and a big chunk of America's reaction to it, that confounds the Trump critics.

Mainstream media should do more of what they did Friday morning: Stop talking over their paid panelists, get out and connect with real people, find out why Donald Trump won two years ago in spite of his mouth, and why he very well could win in 2020.

They might also face up to why Twitter is working for the president, that Twitter is where he stirs what pundits call "the animal spirits." It's where he talks day after day about how the economy is the best it's ever been. Obama lowered the unemployment rate, too, but he chose to repeat negatives about the country, at home and abroad. For Trump, it's a strategy that worked, because for the last decade, Americans longed to hear the nation they love celebrated and not denigrated.

What I took away from the Wall Street Journal story is that Trump wants to increase wages for the lower class by creating many more jobs through shifting the money supply from government to the private sector. The idea is that the private sector will do a better job of spending it. This will (and already has) begun to increase wages for the lower 50 percent of wage earners. The president is also doing this by decreasing the supply of cheap labor, despite the protests of the left.

This has already created more money for those who spend nearly every penny they earn, which is bound to increase our gross domestic product.

Look what happened recently at the U.N. Most national leader speeches to the United Nations are boring homilies. "They praise themselves, pay due respect to the UN, expound upon what Miss Congeniality says in all beauty contests: 'World peace!'" said Andrew Sheng, a columnist for the South China Morning Post.

"What we got instead from Trump was raw and edged: 'America’s policy of principled realism means we will not be held hostage to old dogmas, discredited ideologies and so-called experts who have been proven wrong over the years, time and time again.'" Sheng wrote.

Trump is actually moving the dial.

Over the last quarter, he got Mexico and Canada to accept a new -- or at least newly renamed -- trilateral trade agreement. The whole world knows he's not a modest man, and God knows, he didn't disappoint, feeling further emboldened to brag about the success of his administration at the United Nations General Assembly. The world’s leaders just laughed at him.

Still, the Dow and the S&P 500 should wipe some smiles off those leaders’ faces, having risen 8 percent and 9 percent respectively for the year to date. NASDAQ is up 16 percent this year, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies, 8 percent.

An improving economy, lowest unemployment rate in 50 years -- the Trump agenda at work?

This isn't what CNN, NBC, CBS or the others is looking at. Which is too bad, because the media's jihad against Donald Trump has driven a wedge between journalists and a great many of the people. And it's left a dangerous distaste for a free press all Americans should cherish.

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith

Comments

Yeah, sure. More lawncutters, pooltenders, bedmakers, cooks, bottlewashers, baggers, sweepers and, most of all, junk jobs at minimum wages for illegal immigrants. (Note: more than half of Walmart's full-time employees also receive food stamps and other welfare benefits!). If Trump (and Scott) want to take credit for creating slave labor jobs, let 'em.

right message, wrong person...

Trump has ALWAYS "trumped" Obama "right from day ONE out of the starting gate" in Trump's Presidency,...and will continue to do so well into the "history records"! (Obama is ALREADY just a bad memory on the entire "world stage", and an abject failure and disappointment for our 1st "half Black" candidate; must be time for a "FULL Black", documented American, to "take a run" at the job...[in 2024 ! ]

You're just F.O.S.

The recovery has been underway since the second year of Obama's term. Job numbers have increased over the past 8 years. Why was a recovery needed in the first place? Deregulation of banks, 9/11, the Medicare prescription give away, 2 wars (one of which we all agree was an unnecessary disaster-Iraq), all of which took place during the long 8 years of W. By giving in to Republican dreams of another massive tax cut, Trump has set the stage for the next decline. The wealthy contribute to GOP campaigns, then the GOP rewards them by directing the tax cut in their favor, and then they can give again for the next cycle. The deficit goes up and like the environment, the plan is to let somebody else deal with it. Have some vision, quit with the fast buck mentality and take the long view for once.

Right on!

Ditto, Ocean Joe.

You ignore several facts as usual Nancy. ……………. First the economy was doing great when Trump took office which without interference it would have do9ne the same...………….But Trump has interfered in a fast rising economy he threw lighter fluid on it with tax cuts to corporations, the wealthy exactly when it shouldn't have been done...…………...Thus next yr we'll have a $1.2T deficit, up from $450B under Obama which we borrowed to give the rich, corporations tax cuts...…...What economist thinks that is a good idea Nancy? ……………..And you know why Nancy? ……………. Because it drives up inflation, interest rates and the national debt taking what meager tax cuts 90% are getting overwhelmed by higher costs...…………….Other things like his trade wars so far Korea, Mexico and Canada have played him like the fool Trump is whom they knew would make a couple little changes that don't mean squat, declare victory, leaving our workers just as bad off...………...I was starting a solar business but the Tariffs stopped that cold, increasing my prices 30%...……….. It was suppose to create manufacturing jobs but they might be 1k jobs but it also caused 23k job losses in the solar industry...……….Same with steel, alum tariffs, a tax on Americans that have cut US manufacturing jobs as they have to pay more, raising everyone's costs...……….. And this will come to a head next yr as the country goes into a recession from Trump policies...……..Limited space or I can give many more examples...………..The US will be deeper in debt and far less well off by the time Trump is out of there...………...BTW I don't disagree with his dems policies on fair trade, he is just so incompetent he will hurt far more than help. …………..It's lies like Trump, repubs and YOU put out Nancy that hurts the press freedom, getting to actual facts..

Jerry: Your tired old argument does not cut it in the real World. Nancy is correct and unfortunately while a segment of society has followed the Democratic Les down a rabbit hole and are now immune to common sense and reality, most Americans are wise enough to see the Truth and that is, despite not liking Trump he is doing a fantastic job for our economy, capitalism still works and still puts more people to work, give them better lives, and generates more revenue to help more people. Open you eyes.

Jerry is tired of winning, or he's been promised a job by Gillum, or he's a paid George Soros hack/troll, or Jerry's an idiot.

Of course you must be right . . . . . . . no negative economic impacts from Trump's policies . . . . . . I mean, just ask those who are locally trying to get hurricane shutters . . . . . wait times have quadrupled as available supplies have diminished, and prices have increased by 25% (Palm Beach Post) . . . . . . and that was before the latest draconian tariffs . . . . . . . . . . yes, we know the true hack . . . . . . . . his last name starts with "T" . . . . . . . . . . . "T" for terrible, counterproductive tariffs . . . . . . .and if you don't agree, then just go ask soybean and hog farmers in the mid-west . . . . . . . . . . and remind me which taxpayers will be paying for Mr. "T's" subsidies . . . . . . . . . oh, you will . . . . . . . PATHETIC . . .

Comments are now closed.

nancy smith
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