June 25, 2018

Trump's lies about the economy

Progressive - When Trump says we are seeing the best job numbers EVER, what he’s actually referring to can be explained simply by population growth. Every post-World War II President could have claimed that more people are working now than any other time in American history—including President Obama, who did most of the heavy lifting of digging us out of the Great Recession.

What about Trump’s claim that “job numbers” are the “BEST in 44 years”?

The “job numbers” he’s referring to is the unemployment rate, which is just one measure of our economy—and a somewhat limited one at that.

Trump knows this. In fact, candidate Trump dismissed the unemployment rate measure as “a phony number” and the “biggest joke there is in this country,” pointing out that it only counts people actively looking for work and not the millions who aren’t participating in the workforce but could be.

But Trump missed the biggest flaw in the unemployment rate: In recent years, states have skewed the rate by making unemployment insurance benefits harder to get.

1 comment:

Greg Gerritt said...

The num ber most politicians like to tout is the rate of growth in GDP, and qwhile Trump promised great numbers, he has delivered mostly mediocrity. And all predictions are that it will only get worse.