(ThyBlackMan.com) Before discussing solutions, and dismissing sham policies, it is crucial, we as a nation of people reach a consensus on, what is in the best and common interest of all of us, irrespective of being Democratic or Republican, part of the majority or minority, wealthy or impoverished, and regardless of our religion, the color of our skin or what station in life, we find ourselves? Our shared and common interest lies in growth. Without sustained economic growth, we risk existing as a nation, as a democracy. And it is my opinion, we love our nation and this democracy, the place we call the home of the brave, and the land of the free, the United States of America.
President Trump must tackle the issues of economic immigration, and a long-term Job Creation plan for American workers, if he is going to help working-class Americans, abandoned by the Democratic party. But, in doing this he has to deal with the Biden-Harris administration official policy of underreporting our nation’s unemployment rates, which has led to underreporting the layoffs of disgruntled American workers. If President Trump and his team are pragmatic at all, he has to realize, Biden has left his administration, with a distorted economy. Biden for the longest time crisscrossed the nation, erroneously touting “And [un]employment has been the lowest — been below 4 percent for the longest stretch in 50 years.”
Essentially Biden’s statement indicated, the nation was experiencing a full employment economy, highlighting “the U-3 category rate of unemployment, which is what he was referring to in that statement from the table of Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization, is comprehensive of our monthly unemployment situation.” It is not. The U-3 rate for October stands at 4.1% and was never meant to be viewed as being comprehensive of our nation’s monthly unemployment situation.
This creates a challenge for President Trump, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) economists determined in 1994, the U-6 rate, not the U-3 rate, is the most comprehensive measure of the nation’s unemployment situation. The U-6 rate for October is 7.7%. That makes the African American unemployment rate, the highest of any worker group, and 2.7% over the most comprehensive rate, 10.4% (a Great Recession unemployment rate). Biden and Democrats brushed aside the economic state of Black American workers. Thus, Black American voters “kissed them off,” or rejected them in this last election, as African Americans are “actually living in, and dealing with Biden’s 10.4% unemployment rate economy.” 10.4%, means for every 100 Black American workers, 10 are unable to find a full time Job that pays a living wage, as they understand what a living wage is.
Before continuing and just to be clear, some of you may not see or understand how a few percentage points can make a gigantic difference. If you undercount/underreport our unemployment rates, which leads to hiding our layoffs, with an unemployment rate lower (Biden’s 4.1% rate for October) than what BLS economists have established as the most comprehensive rate (7.7%), the Biden-Harris administration willfully counts only 53% of America’s unemployed. Thus, Biden’s use of the 4.1% rate, the U-3 jobless rate, is misleading, “lacking integrity.” Biden gives America the impression, we have a better economy, than what is factually true.
So, how did we get here, how did we get to the point of where President Biden openly underreported the nation’s unemployment rates to the detriment of ALL American workers. In 1994, when our unemployment rate categories were adjusted, the Clinton administration ignored the conclusion of BLS economists and promoted the U-3 category rate, as not only being the official rate, but the most comprehensive. Here are comments, from then Secretary of Labor Robert Reich to my blog, explaining the Clinton administration’s position.
“Dear Mr. Davis.
You write that “it was decided by Clinton and Reich that the U-3 category rate would become his administration’s official unemployment rate.” That is untrue. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a statistical agency whose independence from politics is critically important to its credibility. Neither I as secretary of labor nor President Clinton intruded on that independence. The BLS decided and continues to decide how the nation’s unemployment rate is defined, measured, and explained to the public.”
Research shows, economists from the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not intend for the U-3 category unemployment rate to be perceived, as a monthly comprehensive measure of the United States’ unemployment situation, as the Secretary of Labor implies above. This is evidenced by an article in the Monthly Labor Review, a journal established in 1915 and known as the principal journal of the BLS. In the October 1995 issue, John E. Bregger, a retired Assistant Commissioner for Current Employment Analysis, and Steven E. Haugen, an economist, at the time, in the Division of Labor Force Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics stated, on page 24 that the U-6 category rate is the most comprehensive among the new range of alternative measures for the U.S. unemployment rate. Despite this, administrations from Clinton to Biden have wrongly and arbitrarily continued to present the U-3 rate, the lower of the two category rates, as being comprehensive of our unemployment situation, essentially undercounting our unemployment rates. Here is the link to the article, read it for yourself, at your leisure. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1995/10/art3full.pdf.
So, actually we don’t have a 4.1% full employment economy, as the Biden-Harris administration would have us believe, it is a mirage. It is a sham. Using President Joe Biden’s numbers, and his disregard of the conclusion of BLS economists, we get what we have today, an American work force that needs help! The Biden-Harris full employment economy, which we have already concluded is a sham, suggested we needed millions of more workers, thus Biden’s flawed immigration policy, led to opening the borders to economic immigrants.
Because the Clinton administration tampered with our unemployment rates, leading to the scheme of underreporting our unemployment rates, and hiding our layoffs, we find ourselves in this current economic condition. The Real economy says, and this is the reality American workers find themselves, we have a 7.7% unemployment rate, which means, for every 100 American workers, 8 of them cannot find a full-time Job in Biden’s economy, that pays a living wage, causing them to work two, or three Jobs to make ends meet. Succeeding administrations, after Clinton who should have known better, could have ended the scheme, but they didn’t.
There is no question the nation must turn the page and look to a long-term economic growth plan as a solution to its economic dilemma. Third party programs, the mainstay of the Democratic party, are not the answer, the Obama administration used that method, and slow growth was the result. Tax cuts to corporations, billionaires, and millionaires have proven to be ineffective in sustaining long-term growth, also. Corporate stock buybacks were the result of the Trump tax cut. And research shows wealthy households don’t stimulate long-term Job growth through spending either, as they tend to preserve wealth and income, rather than widely spending it.
With over 11 million, economic immigrants, maybe more, in our country competing for Jobs with our national unemployment rate at 7.7%, and not 4.1%, the Trump administration needs to grow our economy. The Covid 19 pandemic showed us, we have a relatively simple economy, when it comes to growing Jobs, unlike some other nations. The consumer powers about 70% of Job creation in our economy. Simply put, that means Consumer Spending money is responsible for 7 out of every 10 Jobs created in our economy. The age group, beginning at 55 plus years are responsible for about 40% of the spending done in our capitalist economy. Baby Boomers are the largest population within that group of consumers. A 10%, $25,000 Baby Boomer Consumer Tax Cut is the solution. Go to thefixthistime.com for details.
Finally, even “a college graduate,” and maybe some 5th graders, can understand this, if you give a direct tax cut to the 70% (the consumer), who is powering and growing your economy, you are going to get long-term growth, and Job Creation through “NEW” spending, by the 70% (the consumer), who is powering, and growing your economy.
Staff Writer; James Davis
Question? Comment? One may use this email address; MrDavis@ThyBlackMan.com.
