UNEMPLOYMENT AND CRISES MISDIRECTION

Hidden within the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), lower unemployment numbers were to obscure pain the national economy is actually feeling. The record numbers of new jobs on a month-to-month basis ignores the massive losses in March and April. The net is still 14 million jobs in the hole, even with the 7 million new jobs in May and June.  It’s all optics for effect only. 

The advertised rate of 11.1% unemployed ignores the real numbers. Just like Trump and his admonition of Obama administration for obscuring the real data, I see this administration doing the same. Within the labor report was information which leads you to the following actual data.

Official BLS unemployment   11.1%

BLS Error shown not included   1.2

Part time workers   5.7

Wanting to work but no jobs                 4.3__ 

      Total June Unemployed              22.3% 

The same total unemployment value for April was 31.6%, and for May was 22.7%.  There are 37 million individuals that wanted a job. The jobs report is severely distorted due to methodology.  The same week the survey was taken, there were 25,000 Covid cases reported and then, at the end of June, there were almost 50,000 new cases! The new cases will soon lead to further closures and thus higher unemployment. This is witnessed by the 1.4 million new unemployment claims last week. Last month there was also 13% less spending according to consumer spending, using credit card data. It’s all optics for the Donald. 

Trump downplays both the public health and economic disasters this country is actually going through.  With all the crises the country is experiencing, Trump is absent or on the wrong side of the five on-going crises this country faces.

 The public health crisis due to the virus was given over to the states and Trump is so far out of it, he now says 99% of the Covid cases are harmless. Exacerbating the crisis, Trump refuses to abide with his own experts in not wearing a mask and having rallies with no social distance.  Trump’s attitude on the virus is “live with it”.  Bluster will not defeat this virus.

The economic crisis has only addressed the top of the food chain. Having the FED prop up the Stock Markets without addressing the underlying problems of small businesses and mortgages that will go underwater after the moratorium the banks gave borrowers is like middle America looking down the barrel of a loaded gun and knowing what is to come. This applies to renters as well.  Renters had no evictions for a few months.  What happens when the landlord needs his cash? Big trouble, that’s what.

The democracy crisis is ongoing. Trump flaunts the rule of law with the intent of testing the limits of civility. He mobilizes the military to clear peaceful protesters. He invites foreign countries to interfere in the elections and actively pursues conspiracy theories.

The climate crisis is a matter of science and truth vs climate deniers and conspiracy theorists conflating climate with weather. Trump and his party of climate deniers are on the wrong side of this issue. The green energy is both a winning issue and it helps the economy.  Florida, a Republican sunshine state, has outlawed the use of solar panels. 

Racial inequality is the one crisis Trump is again on the side of the extreme right of his party. The xenophobes, bigots, and white supremacists wearing MAGA hats are at the demonstrations and are brandishing guns to compensate for their small penises. Trump wants the confederate battle flag and confederate traitors to hold an exalted place in history. His ploy is to be an avatar for white grievance. The movement of Black Lives Matter is about equal justice under law and Trump does not understand the movement. Trump traffics in imagined history.

Donald Trump has been president for 3 ½ years and has not yet taken any responsibility for any of these crises, yet they have all been elevated to the forefront. Trump has yet to get a grasp on or provide any leadership for any of these crises. His playbook is resentment, anger, and fear as a power play. Trump plays his crowd against left wing cultural “monsters”. Trump is using the policy of division, misdirection, distrust and fear as political tools.

CHINA SYNDROME REDUX

The China syndrome is already evident in Trump’s election rhetoric. Look for the Hunter Biden, China connection. Most of the messaging is yet to be developed for the attack. The attack need not be credible if examined closely it only needs to be dramatic. These attacks are held off for maximum effect and will be rolled out in October. Especially those messages that are not easily disproven, but dramatic like hyping tapes with falsehoods and innuendos that turn out to be benign, like the Clinton tapes.

There is also the extensive search by Rudy Giuliani for the Joe Biden tapes. Biden Tapes shows the extent Biden, in doing his job, to expose the corrupt prior leader of Ukraine that all the countries in the EU had applauded at the time. Biden’s actions in Ukraine were the exact opposite of Trump’s. Biden was attempting to ouster a corrupt leader and Trump was using his power to corrupt the new leader. Biden’s actions are coincident with the backdrop of Russia invading Ukraine and Crimea.

Let the propaganda and distorted messaging begin. After all it’s the Presidential election season, the greatest shit show on Earth. Let the monkeys throw the poop and see the audience eat it up.

Disinformation meant to stoke hate and division is not helpful in a democracy. Peter Navarro, if you truly believe the drivel, you are professing first do a little research on your mis-information so as not to be so blatantly obvious it’s propaganda.  

It’s nice to see Trump still has his sycophants use propaganda to set the stage for him to say “people are saying” one of his favorite phrases. Peter is reinforcement for the bubble and only makes the bubble thicker and less transparent.

Lying and disinformation are the hallmark of this administration. The Navarro interview, the Kayleigh McEnany disinformation and story-telling events given by the press secretary are examples. 

I only hope whomever is the next president won’t trade in conspiracy theories and will trust the public servants that have dedicated their lives to protect and defend the constitution.  The talking heads of the Fox disinformation and conspiracy channel will be devastated if Trump is not reelected.