Al-O-Meter
Well-Known Member
On that, you and I agree. You can't argue with the results. The economy is garbage right now.
People are pulling the jobless claim number and claiming it is something it isn't to disguise how bad the economic miss was. Economists had forecast a gain of 550,000 jobs but the economy only added 210,000 jobs. That is bad. It comes on the heels of the admission that inflation is far less "transitory" than had been previously forecast and is outpacing wage growth meaning American workers are getting paid less when adjusted for inflation.
What the jobless claims number signifies is that the Biden administration has realized how wrong they were. This is exactly like the recent decision to reinstate the remain-in-Mexico policy. Dismantling it led to problems they wildly underestimated. Similarly, throwing cash at people led to problems they wildly underestimated. Throwing cash at people didn't even boost his approval numbers. The jobless claims number represents the number of unemployed people the government is paying. That the number is at a 52 year low doesn't indicate the economy is booming but rather that the government is closing off the 'free money' tap. It is a much needed step to get the economy going in the right direction but it is not an indication that Biden can party under a 'Mission Accomplished' banner. The economy is still really sick and it is going to get markedly worse when the Fed turns off the tap as they are going to have to do to get inflation back down to the 2% target.
