The U.S. Economy, Job Creation and The Unemployment Rate for March 2023.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the economy added 236,000 jobs in March and the unemployment rate came in at 3.5%, down from 3.6% in February.  It was the 26th straight month of positive job growth for the President's administration.  The Department also announced that wages increased 0.3% in March over February and that the year over year growth was 4.2%.  Also, February job creation was 326,000 and not the 311,000 jobs earlier reported.

The economy continues to create jobs with a stable unemployment rate not seen in 50 years and wages continue to grow.  Yet, the negative voices keep up their 15 months of doom and gloom chatter of recession, the collapse of the banking system and everything else they can think of.  CEO's and executives of some of the largest corporations are part of the negative chatter, have urged the Feds to raise interest rates high and fast that would cause job layoffs and higher unemployment and threaten the progress of the U.S. economy.  Some of those corporations are so large they could have been a force for lowering inflation long ago and they dropped the ball for the sake of greed and higher profits.

There was a time in America before the internet and social media when good news about the economy was reported in a positive atmosphere of accomplishment and pride.  now the opposite is taking place even though the negative voices have been wrong about the economy since the President took office.

The official U.S. economic arbiter on recessions  for the past 50 years has been The National Bureau of Economic Research and they announced that the last time the U.S. entered an economic recession was in February of 2020, a month before COVID hit, and that recession ended the 10 year period of economic expansion.  The negative voices of today were silent about that information.  And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

Pollster Ron Faucheux Gets Caught Up In Poll Numbers.

 Faucheux's opinion column of 4/3 in the New Orleans Advocate titled, "A shocking picture of American values, trends" says in his first sentence, American values have fallen off a cliff based on a recent Wall Street Journal NORC poll.  He then goes on to say the survey data cannot be easily explained away.  But being a pollster himself, Faucheux knows polls do not reflect the real answers because questions asked and answered are based on so much misinformation gathered over the internet and social media that the public is exposed to every day.

A good example is Fox News and their viewers.  The network is rated #1 for cable news and for many years running thanks to their viewers.  However, everyone knows Fox news is based on lies and misinformation but viewers do not care and even believe the lies and misinformation.  The same applies to the conservative media in general.

The most important poll to see where the people stand as a nation are the Presidential elections where the vote (poll) is taken nation wide and not based on sound bites.  And in the last 8 Presidential elections, the democratic Presidential candidate won the popular vote in 7 of those elections.  Bush 43 was the only GOP Presidential candidate to win the popular vote and in his second term during that time period.  

Regular polls you hear about almost every week are slanted that change with the wind and are affected by the questions asked which may not be relevant.  The pollsters have failed to recognize the people's true feelings when the popular vote (poll) went against Trump in both Presidential elections and by large margins, especially against Joe Biden.  And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

Another Steve Scalise Editorial Full of Misinformation and Untruths That Is His trademark and The GOP's Usual Pro Oil and Gas Rhetoric.

 In a New Orleans Advocate editorial of April 4 titled, "American families need cost of energy lowered" was the typical hype past statements by Scalise and the GOP concerning their in-bed relationship with the Oil and Gas industry.  Scalise's bill passed the GOP controlled house titled, Lower Energy Costs Act is the latest example of folly.

Scalise claims that his legislation will produce more drilling and production, more timely offshore lease sales and reduce regulations that would end up reducing the price of oil and gas and lower inflation.  But we know the price of a barrel of oil and gallon of gas is not connected to inflation.  Just this week, OPEC announced a production cut and immediately American oil  and gas industry followed and the next day prices increased in the U.S. 

It is also a fact that the La. Dept. of Natural Resources and Office of Conservation published the offshore drilling activity historical data monthly and yearly and it reveals that the average offshore rig count during President Obama's first term was 33 working rigs and during his second term it average 38 working rigs per year.  During Trump's four years the offshore rig count averaged 17 working rigs per year.  So, Louisiana and the oil and gas industry did much better during the Obama administration even though Scalise said President Obama's moratorium after the BP Oil spill and blowout would cause an exodus of offshore rigs from the Gulf.  The industry did not do so well under Trump because why drill when they received a 14% reduction in their corporate tax rate thanks  to Trump  and the GOP.  Scalise never mentions that America became the world's leading producer of oil on President Obama's watch and that oil hit a record price at the time on  the watch of President George W. Bush.  Where were Scalise and the GOP during the oil and gas meltdown on Trump's watch?  They were running the show.

It is nothing new for those who follow the facts, the oil and gas industry has its best years during democratic administrations and in the past 42 years the Clinton administration saw the largest yearly number of offshore rigs working the Gulf of Mexico when it averaged 90 working rigs per year.  It was also the most stable price time for a barrel of oil and a gallon of gas.

If the bill ever arrives on the President's desk, President Biden should veto the bill for three reasons.  The President knows the facts, the bill is just another Social give away to big oil and the President will not back off his green energy policy of phasing out fossil fuels over a period of time.  

And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

The Indictment of Donald Trump Is A Basic One.

Forget about Donald Trump being a President or former one for that matter.  Forget about the GOP and their noise machine.  Forget about the media's talk about the indictment being in new territory.  Forget about the attacks on our judicial system and our laws of governing some congressional members are trying to use to distract from the real issue.  Forget about those who are trying to define the indictment for you to control your thoughts.  Why?  Because the indictment is a basic indictment before a basic grand jury of peers.  But, more important, forget about all the noise.

The indictment will contain the same information and charges in any other indictment.  The subject will be arraigned, there will be a trial according to the laws of the state, Mr. Trump will be defended by his attorney just like anyone else on trial and a verdict will be issued.  Mr. Trump and his attorneys will have the power of discovery like anyone else.  But the most compelling reason the indictment is a basic one are founded in our democratic legal process of, "No One Is Above The Law" code.  It is a law code those who live by ideology love to forget, those in power love to destroy and those who seek authoritarian rule turn their backs on.  

The indictment now brings us to the next basic step in law enforcement.  The legal system will play out and a decision will be rendered.  And the whole process will not recognize the defendant as being a former President of the United States.  He will be a defendant, just like everyone else in the eyes of the law.  So my fellow Americans, do not pay attention to the side show you will see unfold in the media. 

And that is the way it should be.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

The U.S. House Passes The GOP's Energy Bill.

The Republican controlled House passed their energy legislation on Thursday by a vote of 225-204.  All Republicans except one voted for the bill and all Democrats except 4 voted against the bill.  Louisiana's little boy representative Steve Scalise used the same language to support the bill that in the past has proved to be false.  The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate for its actions.

The Congressional Budget Office reported that if passed it estimated that the repeal of climate provisions in the bill would increase the nations deficit by about $2.4 billion by 2033, reduce direct spending by $4 billion and reduce revenue by $6.4 billion and that is only one part of the legislation.  Scalise and his party failed to do anything on their own watch under Trump.

This writer offers the following on what the U.S. Senate might want to do with the bill.  (1)  They can remind the GOP that the GOP controlled House during the Obama administration failed to even take up the Senate's comprehensive Immigration reform legislation the Senate passed, never even debated it and just let it die without even a hearing.  (2)  They can remind the GOP that during the Obama administration the GOP controlled U.S. Senate failed to give Obama's Supreme Court Justice a hearing and a vote on his nomination, they just let it die.  (3)  Or the democratic controlled Senate could put the legislation up for a hearing and a vote.

The Senate would be justified if they just let the bill die based on the GOP's past performance.  This writer believes the best political, democratic and workable decision would be for a Senate debate and vote on the bill and then let the President decide if he will sign it or veto it if it passes the Senate.  There are no good reasons why the democrats should start being ditto heads like the GOP.

President Biden and the democratic party are the only sane voices in Washington on the economy, jobs, moving the country and its people forward for the better and defending democracy and democratic institutions.  And yes, the oil industry is doing well on the President's watch.  The federal government lost trillions of dollars in revenue because of the Reagan, Bush 43 and Trump tax cuts and now the CBO tells us the government will lose $6.4 billion more revenue just in one part of the GOP passed energy legislation.  

Is it any wonder why the GOP are the deficit and creator of debt champions?  And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Louisiana's Little Boy Congressman In The U.S. House Steve Scalise Strikes Out In President Biden's Veto.

President Biden vetoed legislation passed by the GOP controlled U.S. House that was introduced by Scalise and his majority leader Kevin McCarthy.  The President vetoed the legislation because it jeopardizes the hard earned life savings of cops, firefighters, teachers and other workers according to White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson.  The legislation would have reinstated a Trump era ban on federal managers of retirement plans considering factors such as climate change, social impacts or pending lawsuits when making investment choices.   

The House failed in its attempt to overide the President's veto and once again it demonstrates why Nancy Pelosi was such a highly regarded and capable speaker of the U.S. House.  Nancy has political understanding, something necessary and needed to govern.  It is something Scalise and the GOP lack and why they are trying to reverse legislation approved previously by the Biden administration.  

And yes, Nancy Pelosi is still a better woman than Scalise and the GOP are men.  And that really says it all.  

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

Elected Officials Have Failed To Protect Our School Children As The Killing Continues Again and Again.

 This time at a religious school in Nashville, Tenn., where three nine year old school children and three adults were gunned down and killed by a shooter with two assault type weapons and a hand gun according to Nashville police.  And once again young school children are paying the price with their lives because our elected officials have failed to take the necessary steps to protect them.

The same mentally that is trying to ban books in our schools, discriminate against certain people and continue to support trump's personal attacks against law enforcement people and support his stolen elections lies are the same officials who oppose common sense solutions to gun violence deaths.  They also refuse to finance the means to keep our schools and its children safe.  And they are the same ones aligned with the NRA and benefit from the NRA's huge campaign war chest.

We can also predict that Nashville will not be the last school where children who represent our future will die by gun violence.  Unfortunately, we know that because it is a repeat of events that have taken place over and over again and again.  And every time there are those in power who just turn their backs like the cowards they are and do nothing to stop the carnage.

The people need to ask themself how can they continue to support such officials who lack the character and courage to be responsible and stand up to what is taking place.  Innocent school children who do not have the means to protect themself against assault type weapons should have an opportunity to grow up in a safe school, educate themself so they can become good productive citizens and live the American dream.  There is no greater tragedy than taking the life of a child at school.  Sending prayers after school gun violence deaths is not the answer or a commitment to stop the killings.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Opinion Writer Catherine Rampell Has No Idea Why The U.S. Economy Has Been So Strong.

 Rampell, in her opinion column of 3/16 published in the New Orleans Advocat titled, "Why the economy is stronger than expected, again" makes an attempt to "maybe" answer the questions with her own questions that fall flat and speculative.  She says "maybe" something weird has been happening with the numbers and our measurements are off.  

Nothing weird is taking place for those who are familiar with the history of job creation and the economy over the past 100 years.  PolitiDose commentary is familiar and predicted in commentary in December 2020 and early January 2021 in describing how and why President Biden's policies would create jobs and bring the economy out of the Trump/GOP economic recession.  Democratic administrations have a 100 year historical record of job creation and strong economies by a great majority over GOP administrations.  

Jobs are not created during an economic recession, they are actually lost.  And every GOP administration in the past 100 years has given the country an economic recession.  President Clinton's administration created more jobs in just 8 years than Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43 and Trump's administrations created in the 24 years they served.  Reagan, Bush 43 and Trump cut taxes for you know who that was supposed to create a booming economy and job creation. But President Clinton raised taxes on those same folks, balanced the budget with surpluses, paid down over $400 billion on the national debt, created a record number of jobs and the country enjoyed a great economy.  Under the Reagan administration the unemployment rate stayed over 10% for 10 straight months from September 1982 to June 1983.  It remains the highest sustained unemployment rate in the last 70 plus years.

Historical facts can be used in advanced to project outcomes and that is what PoitiDose has done for the past 9 plus years.  Democratic administrations have accomplishments because they govern with policies and plans to meet the issues at hand.  The GOP govern with a corrupt ideology that has no relationship to the real issues at hand.  PolitiDose commentary predicted how the Obama administration would move the country out of the great Bush43 recession of 2008 with plans and policies to bring back the economy with jobs and did the same thing with President Biden turning around the great Trump recession.  President Obama created more jobs in 8 years than Bush41, Bush43 and Trump did in the 16 years they served.

The only ones who do not get it are the uninformed and the GOP.  And so, my fellow Americans, stay tuned to PolitiDose, your daily dose of political commentary for the facts concerning the real issues.

This commentary writtng by Joe Lorio 

 

The Media In General Has Failed To Inform: Instead, They Are The Enablers Of The GOP and Their Talking Points.

 The conservative media and their journalist/opinion writers feed the public misinformation to influence their opinions on the issues.  The general media enables the GOP's misinformation and lies by refusing to balance that with the facts that would inform the public.  A good example is the issue being played out at this very moment concerning congress raising the debt ceiling to fund government that congress already approved.

The GOP controlled U.S. House has threatened a government shutdown if President Biden does not agree to reduce federal spending.  So lets look at their attempt to shift the blame to the President for their own record spending spree during Trump's 4 fiscal years, a period they do not want to talk about because it is so damaging to them and their party's fiscal disaster.  Plus they know the media has no interest in telling the American people the truth about the issues and the GOP lies.  Keep in mind the GOP during Trump's term had no problem raising the debt ceiling without cutting federal spending.  Let's examine the facts.

In the Trump/GOP's short four fiscal years total federal spending was $21.5 trillion, up 43% from Obama's last 4 fiscal years.  Total deficit spending was $7.5 trillion and $8.2 trillion was added to the national debt.  Total federal spending passed the $4, 5, and 6 trillion mark and at the end of Trump's 3rd fiscal year federal spending hit $6.5 trillion.  And in Trump's last fiscal year federal spending hit $6.8 trillion.  The last two fiscal years saw federal spending at record levels.  The Trump/GOP administration did nothing to reduce federal spending and did everything to increase federal spending to record levels.

Now, the GOP uses threats to hold the President and America hostage for the fiscal carnage of their last 4 years of governing if Biden does not agree to reduce federal spending and budget cuts.  The following is the President's record so far on fiscal matters.  Federal spending at the end of Biden's first fiscal year ending 9/30/22 was $6.2 trillion, a reduction of 8% from Trump's last fiscal year spending of $6.8 trillion.  Biden's 2nd fiscal year ends 9/30/23 and federal spending is projected to be close and around the same number according to reports.  The President recently released his fiscal year budget that ends 9/30/24 that projects federal spending to be $6.8 trillion, the same number in the Trump/GOP budget spending in their last fiscal year.  

In other words, The President has already reduced federal spending and his latest budget proposal does not exceed the Trump/GOP spending that ended their last fiscal year.  Yet, the GOP continues to lie about runaway spending under the Biden administration and the media runs with those talking points of lies and misinformation and never feels it has a responsibility to inform the American people of the facts and call the GOP out for its lies.  

Historical government records will show that democratic administrations have a much better record dealing with lower federal spending than GOP administrations and by far.  The record also shows that during the Clinton and Obama administrations federal spending increased at a much smaller rate than it did under Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43 and Trump and by far.  Louisiana's representation in the Congress supported the fiscal carnage that took place on Trump and their watch and never demanded reducing federal spending or cutting the budget.  

PolitiDose commentary was there every step of the way over the past 9 years exposing the GOP's fairy tale of fiscal responsibility and the media's willingness to turn their backs on the truth.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The U.S. Economy, Job Creation and The Unemployment Numbers for February 2023.

 The Labor Department reported the economy added 311,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate came in at 3.6%.  It was the 25th straight month of positive job growth under the Biden administration and another punch to the gut of the negative voices of the GOP and their enablers who have projected doom and gloom for the economy since early 2022.  The economy has created over 800,000 jobs in the first two months of 2023.

The unemployment rate was up from last month's 3.4% as the Department noted that more people entered the work force looking for employment.  But the number is still at historically lows.  Wages were up 4.6% year to year, well above the pre-pandemic trend and down from the 5.9% increase in 2022.  The negative voices were predicting job creation in the 200,000 range and that unemployment claims would begin to explode but they are wrong once again.

The economy on Biden's first full 25 months has created over 11.3 million jobs, an average of 454,000 jobs per month.  Trump in his first 36 months in office (before anyone knew the word COVID) created 6.6 million jobs, an average of 183,000 per month.  But the economy ended up losing 2.7 million jobs on Trump's watch by the time he left office.  In President Obama's last 36 months in office 8.1 million jobs were created, an average of 225,000 jobs per month.  

Among the negative voices of the doom and gloom GOP and their enablers, the steady sane voice of the President and his party continue to move the country and its people forward despite the negative attacks.  When you have no accomplishments to talk about, the only thing left are lies, misinformation and personal attacks. 

The President should keep his focus on those issues that really matter and make a difference for the country and its people.  So far, he has done a good job at doing so.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio