Reclaiming Common Sense

Ignore the Covfefe - It's the Economy


The mainstream media is fascinated by anything that keeps them from reporting the successes of the Trump Economy. President Trump has added more workers during his first eleven months in office than President Reagan, Clinton, George W Bush, or Obama did during their first eleven months. There are more full-time jobs and fewer full-time jobs than December 2016. We had the lowest first-time unemployment claims for the first week of January since 1970 - when we had roughly 85 million FEWER people eligible for unemployment benefits. WE saw the BEST total retail sales year EVER. There was so much more that was reported on this website than the covfefe over what President Trump has been alleged to have said. Where was the wall-to-wall coverage of Nancy Pelosi' "Five White Guys" sexist, racist comment about the five elected officials attempting to cobble together a comprehensive immigration deal?


(Jan. 8) The December Jobs Report, or Employment Situation Report, was released January 5th. This column published an article that showed how the official seasonally adjusted private sector worker number was reported considerably lower than it would have been if the seasonal factor from December 2016 was applied to the December 2017 data.  Monday's article "Five Presidents after Eleven Months" reported that President Trump has overseen the largest addition of non-seasonally adjusted workers during his first eleven months than his prior two term predecessors. It was also reported that President Trump has seen jobs added faster than the workforce population has grown.


(Jan. 9) There is more data reported than the headline jobs number. The participation rate dipped a little bit last month because some people were over-participating last month while other were under-participating. "Multiple Jobs Workers up during December" goes into detail.


(Jan. 9) I was watching the news on Tuesday and the comment of how we are in a "Retail Ice Age" reared its ugly head for the umpteenth  time. The "Retail Ice Age" is one of many urban legends that was created under the Obama Era. "Economic Urban Legends" discussed the Retail Ice Age legend and five other legends, including President Obama's job streak legend and President Obama's First-time Unemployment Claims streak legend.


(Jan. 10) There was a "Jobs Iceberg" during the Obama years. The number of full-time jobs dropped while the number of part-time jobs grew. The drop was further below the "waterline" than the part-time icecap was above the water. This "Jobs Iceberg" happened more both men and women workers. The problem is that men work seasonal jobs in such sectors as manufacturing, construction, and mining/logging.  This month there were fewer men working full-time jobs than during July 2007.


(Jan. 11) Breaking News: Thursday is still First-time Unemployment Claims Day. Guess what. There were fewer first-time unemployment claims than any first week of January this century.  Okay, that goes back to 2000. What about the prior century? When there were tens of millions of fewer workers eligible for unemployment benefits. The first First-time Unemployment Claims Datum for 2018 was remarkable.


(Jan. 12)We had the best retail sales year ever during 2017. But let's discuss what may or may not have been said behind closed doors, in a private meeting. Why would we want to hear good news?


(Jan. 12)Two economic reports were released on Friday Two less-than-politically correct statements were possibly made this week. One racists, sexist statement was made on tape by Nancy Pelosi. One comment was allegedly made behind closed doors - some people in the room heard a less than desirable statement, some people in the room denied hearing that statement. Which got more coverage?


A famous Democrat said "It's the Economy, Stupid."


Let's get smart about our news. "It's the economy."