A Warped Jobs Report?

It seems like only yesterday that Obama was whinging (yet again) about the public's failure to applaud his economy:

Obama: 'VFW Halls All Across America' Have Warped View of Economy

And today we get a gruesome jobs report:

US created 38,000 jobs in May vs. 162,000 expected

Ooops! I saw flickering headlines about downward revisions to the March and April payroll figures as well.

Some possible non-exclusive explanations:

(1) It is not the public that has a warped view of the economy, it is the guy who is a few months away from an eight-figure book deal.

(2) Obama is proving that the President has no advance information about US economic reports - this is one more thing he'll read in the papers.

(3) Obama is cleverly creating the illusion that he has no access to the numbers so that when the fix is in come September/October we will all be fooled.

So which is it? This is one of the many problems we caused for ourselves by electing a time-traveling genius for President.

Comments

[-peter]

First

[DebinNC]

Obama: 'VFW Halls All Across America' Have Warped View of Economy

Even for BOzo, that's bizarre. All the people available for him to demonize and he picks veterans of foreign wars who he imagines are dissing his wonderful economy in their private gatherings? He's gone full Queeg.

[buccaneer morgan]

Bitter climbers deb, but then went Norman the android, so even he doesn't believe it.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Yes this is the beginning of the final meltdown. The Ferret won't be able to keep the cracks from expanding.

[buccaneer morgan]

Carter trusted khomeini back in 1979, that worked out well.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Dhimmi Carter let his joooo hatred tinge everything, including his attitude toward Begin.

[henry]

What resemblance do these numbers have with reality over the past 8 years? At some point they need to end up at a measurable number of employed Americans just in case a R gets in the White House and asks for an audit.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Deb:
All the people available for him to demonize and he picks veterans of foreign wars who he imagines are dissing his wonderful economy in their private gatherings?

Think of the Rolling Thunder rally in DC over the Memorial Day weekend and the yuge support they gave Trump.

[rse]

henry-take a look at this analysis going out to state and local government officials across the country.

http://www.routefifty.com/2016/06/states-benefit-when-they-expand-medicaid/128771/?oref=rf-today-nl

Only as long as the feds can keep up these deficits. Pitched as way to grow the economy and prosper. I guess this is Kasich's philosophy.

[Miss Marple]

When he spoke in Elkhart yesterday he didn't get an enthusiastic reception on the economy. It upset Gwen Ifil. Here is my sad face😂

[jimmyk]

But, but, the unemployment rate went down!!!

Anyway, Janet Yellen will come riding in to the rescue on her white horse with more free money.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Too bad rse isn't still here; Vargas Llosa is absolutely scathing on the decline of education. Maybe I'll contact her through her blog.

[jimmyk]

From the BLS report, it looks like mining and manufacturing took the hit, offsetting more healthcare bureaucrats being hired to cope with the Obamacare mess.

Big increases in part-time employment for people who would rather work full-time.

[henry]

thanks rse. they do use the "don't look behind that curtain" approach to where the money comes from (or more importantly doesn't after a couple years).

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Whoa, so much for refreshing!! D'oh.

Robin, are you aware of Notes on the Death of Culture by Mario Vargas Llosa, specifically the essay Forbidden to Forbid?

[henry]

jimmyk, our Chitown friend send me this yesterday: "NY Inst of Supply Mgmt May Index falls off a cliff: May = 37.2 vs April 57.0" that would be manufacturing falling off a cliff. In Milwaukee we had Joy Global slashing its workforce (mining equipment) on Tuesday. Yet the Fed seems set on raising rates. That object going over the cliff is the real economy -- I do not see a soft landing. (So much for the Ray Fair model supporting a Hillary win based on positive economic performance).

[Lurker Susie]

I guess congress doesn't care. They just keep funding.

Students for Life
Students for Life – ‏@Students4LifeHQ

"How is the pancreas forecast today?" New docs on #PPsellsbabyparts scandal are damning
http://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/114/letters/20160601HHSHIPAA.pdf …

[Dave (in MA)]

The Bezos Daily Worker gives space to a concern troll after his old employer's family business comes to an end.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-most-depressing-moment-of-2016/2016/05/30/bdb1807a-2457-11e6-aa84-42391ba52c91_story.html

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

The full Medicaid bill will come due for the citizens of Ahia well after the Mailman's son is on another another route. At that point it will be completely clear that it was sold based on a bunch of blatant lies that goof has never had to face.

[sbw]

I will catch up with yesterday evening’s posts but first, I just took the newsroom to task for its political coverage.

Front page yesterday featured about 20 column inches on “Clinton will paint Trump as danger to foreign policy” and nothing about Trump news.

I went to the AP feed and discovered stories are slugged “DEM”, “GOP”, “TRUMP”, etc. and the editor, through laziness or design, had picked a single recent DEM lead as the “political” story of the day.

So the “news” provided was not an accurate map of what was significant, nor was it in context to provide readers what they need.

This morning, before schooling editors what news is, I looked again at the AP feed. The GOP story on Trump University goes with the first graf, “Donald Trump said that the federal judge presiding over a lawsuit brought by former Trump University students has an "absolute conflict" in handling the case because he is ‘of Mexican heritage.’” with NO mention of Judge Curiel’s La Raza connection. The article ends with this quote:

Lorella Praeli, director of Latino outreach for Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign, said Friday that Curiel and his family "epitomize the American dream."

"The fact that Donald Trump doesn't see Judge Curiel and his family as Americans makes him unfit to be president of this great nation, a nation of immigrants," Praeli said in a statement.

With the CLinton campaign quote and without the La Raza connection, this is, intended by AP or simply used by politicians, a political hit piece.

I told our editors that it was part of our job to see that what we reported was balanced and in context, and they needed to know enough from other sources to be sure that what we printed from AP included enough context to be an accurate map of the political scene.

The editors seemed to understand. We will see.

What bothers me is that readers all over the country are swamped by such lazy editing.

[RattlerGator]

Gerson: Trump was attempting to punish Martinez because she has been noncommittal about endorsing him.

My recollection indicates it wasn't because she was noncommittal, it was because she was ATTACKING him. And I think it is fairly unprecedented for the presumptive nominee to be attacked at this stage of the ballgame by his own party.

Don't attack your nominee -- what the hell is so hard to comprehend about that?

[Free James D.]

Re: Dave's link

Gerson can (say it with me!) go die in a fire.

It amazes me how riled all the pundits are about Trump attacking Susanna Martinez.

When a President directs funds away from states that didn't vote for him, or refuses disaster aid to them, that's just politics and nothing wrong with it.

When a presidential candidate says something mean about a governor who doesn't support him, it's unprecedented in the history of the Republic and cause for widespread panic.

Is that about right?

[cheerleader]

A lot of people call Mr. Trump a "bs artist" but I think it's his uncompromising honesty that is causing the great unmasking of just about everyone, including Obama.

[Dave (in MA)]

For the most part these days, "balanced" means that they include a pro-Dem and an anti-Repub story.

[maryrose]

Trump has modified his comments wrt Martinez.
Negative coverage will continue for Trump because of the dishonest media.
Good thing most people don't read newspapers anymore.

[JeanD]

What bothers me is that readers all over the country are swamped by such lazy editing.

sbw, how much of it is laziness and how much of it is a convenient chance to reinforce the editors' world view?

Good for you that you are trying to keep your paper honest! No doubt, a thankless job.

[cheerleader]

If Mr. Trump is going to take marching orders from Mitch McConnell, he will not win.

[buccaneer morgan]

This is how Argentina was deepsixed, menem kept national spending down, but the provinces spent like sailors in leave.

[asw]

mr: As I understand Martinez Attacked Trump without provocation at a big GOP donors meeting in FL. He was gentle under the circumstances. She did not choose wisely.

sbw: Rome is fortunate to have you and your family newspaper. I sent your blog contact form a while ago about the narcisolator2. If you didn't get it would you let me know here so I can try again. Thanks.

[sbw]

JeanD: sbw, how much of it is laziness and how much of it is a convenient chance to reinforce the editors' world view?

I can’t know and shouldn’t know that particular editor’s political persuasion.

Ordinarily I don’t pre-edit what goes into the newspaper. After something is printed I ask questions and hold them accountable for justifying what they did. Today I did -- blue penciling an AP story that included political hits and circling words like “brash billionaire“ that have no place.

Across the country I suspect laziness. Decades ago businesses could feel safe selecting any computer so long as it was blue (IBM), an editor feels safe cutting and pasting Associated Press copy.

Editors at small newspapers across the country need to learn that AP writers feel “safe" reporting conventional wisdom even if, because it doesn’t accurately map the situation, it isn’t wisdom.

I may be one of the few that emails AP regularly to challenge their reporting. All wire editors should.

[Janet]

This is exactly right -

For the most part these days, "balanced" means that they include a pro-Dem and an anti-Repub story.

[sbw]

asw, regarding narcisolator2, send sentinel at rny.com an email specifically directed to the publisher and I should get it.

[cheerleader]

Agree 100% with asw re sbw and his newspaper and its fortunate readers.

[jimmyk]

Yes, kudos to sbw, and it's noteworthy that he is a survivor in an industry where many of his competitors have gone down in flames, or at least have lost their independence to the big media companies. Remarkable how maintaining standards and integrity can be a recipe for success.

[jimmyk]

For the most part these days, "balanced" means that they include a pro-Dem and an anti-Repub story.

LOL, Dave--heads they win, tails we lose.

[sbw]

thnks, jk.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Some possible non-exclusive explanations:--

Probably the bad weather in January which was the result of climate change which was exacerbated by Barry's predecessor = it's Bush's fault!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Why doesn't Michael Gerson just put on some pink panties, do a pirouette into the little girl's room, squat to pee and call it a day?

[JeanD]

sbw, thanks for your reply.

I applaud you for fighting this uphill battle with AP and others.

One problem I think we have is that few people read critically or think to challenge the "facts" that they read/hear in the news reporting.

Love Trump or hate him, he does seem to be emboldening others to say "Hey, wait a minute! That's not true!" An exciting development for those among us who already knew, but a revelation for quite a few of our fellow citizens.

[GUS]

I saw Michael Gerson in TARGET moments ago.

[Comanche Voter]

VFW halls around the country sometimes rent out space for various events. I've been to two or three different VFW halls here in Metropolitan Los Angeles in the last few years. They tend to be downscale working class places. One thing for sure--unlike Obozo who flew into Elkhart on Air Force One, the VFW members aren't arriving at the halls in their private jets. Down at ground level things are tough--but this arrogant airhead can't see that.