Donald Trump’s “‘False Economy’ Nonsense”

Career Politicos Balk at Allegation of Central Bankers’ Market Shenanigans

By James F. Tracy

The federal government is guilty of numerous fraudulent practices, not the least of which is its collusion with the private Federal Reserve over the past century to devalue the US currency and rob people of their buying power while creating an almost endless state of war, thereby further allowing the central bank to undermine the host government’s resources and constituencies.

Could it be there’s finally one candidate from the Demopublican monolith that really does “get it”? Based on rhetoric alone this election season (and in the unfortunate absence of a Ron Paul candidacy) there are stark differences between the two major candidates, particularly in terms of pointing to the ongoing economic fraud briefly described above.

ZeroHedge observes:

One month ago, Donald Trump urged his followers to sell stocks, warning of “very scary scenarios” for investors, and accused the Fed of setting the stage for the next market crash when he said that “interest rates are artificially low” during a phone interview with Fox Business. “The only reason the stock market is where it is is because you get free money.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0mF_kb57vI

[On September 5] speaking to a reporter traveling on his plane who asked Trump about a potential rate hike by the Fed in September, Trump took his vendetta to the next level, saying that the Fed is “keeping the rates artificially low so the economy doesn’t go down so that Obama can say that he did a good job. They’re keeping the rates artificially low so that Obama can go out and play golf in January and say that he did a good job. It’s a very false economy. We have a bad economy, everybody understands that but it’s a false economy. The only reason the rates are low is so that he can leave office and he can say, ‘See I told you.'”

Incumbent party supporters balked at the Republican candidate’s assessment, with Trump’s counterpart “calling it ‘another example why [Trump] shouldn’t be anywhere near the White House,'” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Mrs. Clinton said that it was inappropriate for candidates and presidents to weight in on Fed actions. Mrs. Clinton said presidential candidates should choose their words carefully when characterizing the economy.”[1]

The Washington Post wheeled out Joseph Biden’s former chief economist Jared Bernstein. “Much of what Donald Trump says about the economy has little relationship to reality,” the economist opines. “For the record, monetary policy by the Federal Reserve has provided critical support in this recovery with real results, a fact widely agreed upon by economists of various stripes.” This of course would depend on what data those economists are evaluating.

Trump "false economy" nonsense and the Reagan ?: (re "are u better of than four years ago?") https://t.co/edk4mnQXn1 pic.twitter.com/XVtR2OoHKm

— Jared Bernstein (@econjared) September 7, 2016

Bernstein assert that job growth has picked up by 70%, while unemployment and underemployment are down by close to 40% and 33% respectively. Figures don’t lie but lying policy apparatchiks and think tank wonks sure can figure, in this instance by using tortured figures calibrated to sing the correct political tune.

A quick trip over to Dartmouth-trained economist John Williams’ Shadow Stats demonstrates how Bernstein uses government data notorious for overlooking “estimated long-term discouraged workers” who remain unemployed or underemployed. Using formulae long-scuttled by US statisticians, Williams estimates a present overall employment rate of 23%–the equivalent of unemployment at the height of the 1930s Great Depression.

//memoryholeblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/330px-us_unemployment_1910-1960.gif

From ShadowStats Alternate Unemployment Charts:

The seasonally-adjusted Shadow Government Statistics Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the [Bureau of Labor Statistics] estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers.

The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the BLS broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment.

//memoryholeblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/sgs-emp.gif

Thus contrary to Democrats’ claims, Trump appears to have a better grasp of the economic reality the American public is experiencing today than Clinton, Bernstein, and likely the entire Fed Board of Governors could ever hope to possess. Whether he will be allowed to concretely address such economic problems if elected is of course another matter entirely.

Note

[1] Colleen McCain Nelson, “Clinton Hits Trump Over ‘False Economy,'” Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2016, A6.