"... all of the jobs being created are very poor-quality and poor-paying."

Job growth was decent in July — the fourth straight month of just-OK results on that front, which probably led to high fives at the White House.

But there’s something unusual in the numbers.

And when I tell you what it is, you’ll understand that voter dislike of Hillary Clinton and the Russian interference in the election had little to do with why Donald Trump became president.

The election turned on the amount of money voters had in their pockets.

The latest revised figures from the Commerce Department showed that take-home pay and disposable income in the US haven’t nearly kept up with the job growth figures — and the trend began well before Trump took office.

...

In addition to poor increases in disposable income, savers also can’t count on income from bank deposits. So that, too, is slowing spending.

Washington originally said that disposable income grew at 1.1 percent annually in the first three months of Trump’s presidency. Now it says growth was only 0.20 percent on an annual basis.

And disposable income in the second quarter, which just ended, looks like it grew at just 0.51 percent annually.

The bottom line? Go ahead and cheer the July job numbers if you want, but in no way do they square with disposable income figures.

Either the job figures or the disposable income numbers are wrong. Or — and this is what many people believe — all of the jobs being created are very poor-quality and poor-paying.

All those "Help Wanted" signs in store windows are for entry-level, low wage jobs like restaurant workers or shop clerks. High paying manufacturing jobs are still in the future.

In White, Working-Class Areas, Social Institutions Are Crumbling. That Decay Is Fueling Trump's Rise

READING, Pa.—This coal and steel region was thriving when Gary Martin started working construction sites in the mid-1970s. Ironworkers jammed the local union hall, the union sponsored a big picnic each spring, and business groups were flush with volunteers for charity drives.

Mr. Martin’s extended family attended church, as it had for generations, in an area called Irish Valley in neighboring Schuylkill County. Two-parent families were the norm, and fatal drug overdoses were so rare that some county coroners didn’t bother tallying them.

No longer. Working-class neighborhoods, in particular white ones hit hard by the decline of the U.S. industrial base, are crumbling under the weight of deepening social problems.

Mr. Martin, 63 years old, retired last year as head of Ironworkers Local 420 but financially supports three grandsons—22, 21 and 19—because his daughter became an addict. The oldest grandson turned to heroin, too, and Mr. Martin and his wife got divorced in another casualty of the stress, they say.

“Rather than spending my retirement half-time in Ireland as I planned, I moved back to the house with a dirt-floor basement where I grew up to try to help raise my grandchildren,” he says.

Read the whole thing. It's why Trump is winning.

Obama Kept His Promise, 83,000 Coal Jobs Lost And 400 Mines Shuttered

This Labor Day, America has 83,000 fewer coal jobs and 400 coal mines than it did when Barack Obama was elected in 2008, showing that the president has followed through on his pledge to “bankrupt” the coal industry.

Policy positions

Whenever I hear someone demand that a candidate lay out policy positions, I know that this is an attempt to change the subject. In most cases the people demanding policy positions are really saying that the candidate is not taking about the subjects they want discussed. As they say, this is not my first rodeo. Name me the last politician who presented policy positions and actually delivered?

When was the last time you voted for someone based on his policy positions? You say you voted for Barack Obama? Which of his policy positions grabbed you: “hope” or “change?”

Perhaps you were in the minority who voted for Mitt Romney? Which policy position drew you to him? Admit it, you voted for him because he was not Barack Obama.

Which is the reason that disparaging Donald Trump’s policy positions – or lack thereof – is so transparently foolish. Let’s discuss two of the Donald’s key talking points.

Do you agree that illegal immigration is a problem? What is it about his position that bothers you, the opposition to illegal immigration or the tone in which he raises the issue?

Do you agree that the middle class has seen its jobs disappear as companies move production out of the country? Trump wants to create barriers to keep jobs here and incentives to move jobs back into the country. Where do you stand on jobs moving overseas? Would your position change if your job was being exported?

Do you agree or disagree with Trump that immigration of Muslims into the U.S. should be put on hold until we have a better idea of which of these immigrants are a threat? Is it the policy you oppose or are you signaling your virtue, realizing that the chances of your dying in the next terrorist attack are very small? Since more Americans are shot in Chicago annually than have died in terrorist attacks in the U.S. after 9/11 do you think we should just pay the price? Are you willing to allow a few Americans to die so that the country will be seen as politically correct? Or are you willing to die to show your virtue?

Laid Off Disney Worker Breaks Down in Tears Before Senate Panel

National Review Weenie on Trump - and the Horrible Fix the Republicans are in.

Donald Trump is running amok in the GOP china shop and gleefully tearing the place up.

They see no way out:

The key to Trump’s strength, which buttresses all his outrageousness, is that his supporters want someone to blow up the system. So there's almost nothing he can say or do that will discredit him in their eyes, and the least destructive scenario for his defeat — Trump blows himself up — will take some doing on his part.

What Lowry still doesn't get is that Trump is his creation, and the rest of the Republican Ruling Class.  You can only have so much contempt for the well-being of the Country Class before they pick up their pitchforks and storm the castle.  You sided with the Country Class in the culture war ... and lost.  At the same time you were destroying their economic base.  You were exporting their jobs and sacrificing their future on the alter of "comparative advantage."  It was a pain you never felt as economic powerhouses - like Wal Mart - were built on the basis of importing stuff all labelled "Made in China."  

The truth will only dawn when columns can be written by cheap labor in Asia and Lowry is given the pink slip.

ISIS Jobs

Obama's fundamental transformation of America

Well, he doesn't have to worry about his personal wealth, does he?  Barack Hussein Obama has done very well for his contributors in the 1%.

Median household net worth decreased by $5,046, or 6.8 percent, between 2000 and 2011. ... Between 2000 and 2011, experiences of households varied widely depending on their net worth quintile (See Figure 1). Median household net worth decreased by $5,124 for households in the first (bottom) net worth quintile, $7,056 (or 49.3 percent) for the second quintile, and $5,072 (or 6.9 percent) for the third quintile. Median household net worth increased by $18,433 (or 9.8 percent) for households in the fourth quintile, and by $61,379 (or 10.8 percent) for households in the highest (top) quintile.

So far the Obama Presidency has been a slow motion disaster. Now things are speeding up.

It took a while to get rolling. Beginning with the “stimulus” that, to the surprise of those who believe bumper stickers, did not provide shovel ready jobs. So the economy was left to heal itself. It did so by shoving lots of people out of the work force … permanently.  It's in the process of decimating the Middle Class.  What do you do when there’s no chance of getting a job and you’re young. I dunno. Move to Ferguson and try a little looting? And what is the answer when the black community starts blaming the "Kenyan" black president? We’re about to find out.

Meanwhile Democrats focused like a laser beam on taking over America’s health care system. The image of competence in this sphere exploded when the website blew up. The real disaster, the greatest part of the destruction is not here yet, but it’s getting closer.

The Federal Reserve thought it would be a great idea to create so much money (Qualitative Easing they called it) that everyone would be a millionaire and bankers would have garage sales as they peddled their extra money. That didn’t happen but the effect of printing a few trillion dollars is beginning to be felt in the grocery store, and soon it will spread to the rest of the economy. We won’t be using wheelbarrows to take our money to the grocery store; we use credit cards which makes the trip a lot easier.

Meanwhile in another part of the forest, the group of people Obama called the “JV Team” suited up and decided that it would be fun to rid the world of everyone who didn’t bow to Allah. It’s attracting recruits from all over the world who like nothing better than to have their kids hold up the severed heads of their enemies. As a plus, they have revived the ancient practice of crucifixions. When a large group of their intended victims managed to escape from their mountain refuge, Obama took a victory lap, announced mission accomplished, and played another round or two of golf.

Despite assurances to the contrary, Ebola appears to be spreading. Perhaps nature is heeding the call of the Greens who have called for reduced population by depopulating Africa … or perhaps other parts of the world. We’ll soon know.

And in Europe it’s hard to tell the difference between the old USSR and modern Russia. Mr. Putting seems to see the loss of the old empire so much that he’s busy working to recreate it. The Ukrainian military may be just strong enough to begin World War 3. It's not strong enough to finish it.  Stay tuned, news at 11.

And the “leader of the free world?” He’s checked out. There are a few more parties to host, some golf to play and fundraisers to attend. But for the rest, don’t bother him. He’s got his eye set on a great house in California.

Former Virginian Pilot Publisher, Obama and McAuliffe Appointee, Maurice Jones, Breaks Federal Law

When you're part of the Obama Administration, fresh from publishing the Virginian Pilot, and being used to telling people what to do, a little thing like the law doesn't stop you.

An internal federal probe has concluded that Maurice Jones, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s new commerce secretary, improperly lobbied Congress while he was in the Obama administration last year.

Mr. Jones, who was a deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, sent an email to more than 1,000 recipients — including 46 people at HUD — asking them to contact senators to “defend against efforts by some Republicans” to prevent a housing bill to come up for a vote, according to the internal probe. The message also asked “friends and supporters” to tell senators to vote “no” on another amendment.

A monthslong investigation by the HUD’s office of inspector general concluded that Mr. Jones and four others at HUD appear to have violated anti-lobbying laws, which restrict the use of funds for publicity or propaganda directed at pending legislation before Congress. The probe also concluded that Mr. Jones violated internal HUD policy on lobbying by federal employees.

Jones claimed ignorance.

“[Deputy secretary]{Jones} stated that it was articulated to him that ‘I could do things that others could not,’” investigators wrote in the report obtained by The Washington Times.

 Laws are for the little people.

The Obama DOJ - the most politicized in history  - declined to prosecute its own employee.   and the investigation is busy being swept under the rug.  I confidently predict that Jones will not be prosecuted.

One last point, this tireless advocate of the working man, managed to do very well for himself even as he was throwing others out of work.

In 2012, The Washington Times reported that a federal financial disclosure form showed Mr. Jones pocketed more than a quarter-million dollars in bonus compensation as publisher of the Virginian-Pilot about the same time he was slashing newsroom jobs.

The Virginian Pilot did not cover this story.  But then they have a history of refusing to cover the mishaps of their own employees, even when those employees are the victims of an unprovoked attack by a gang of black youths.

They speak like Marx, rule like Stalin, live like the Rockefellers while the people suffer.

Obama Nation: " ...dream of a life of care-free welfare dependency."

Bud Norman writes a wickedly delicious column about the CBO report that predicts that ObamaCare will mean that 2.5 million will lose their full-time jobs.

The report projects that the law will result in the loss of 2.5 million full-time equivalent jobs in the next decade, leave 31 million people still without health insurance but paying for the privilege, add $1.4 trillion to the federal deficit, cause millions of Americans to lose the health insurance plans that they liked, and wind up costing the average American money out of his paycheck. Given that the law’s eponymous president repeatedly promised that it would spur economic activity, insure everyone, wouldn’t add a single dime to the deficit, anyone who liked his health insurance plan could keep it, and the average American would wind up with an extra $2,500 in his paycheck, it seems fair to say that things aren’t going as intended.

He then unloads on the hapless Jay Carney, who - and you can't make this up - actually tries to sell the idea that losing your job is a good idea:

By far the most entertaining portion of White House spokesman Jay Carney’s juggling act was his insistence that the 2.5 million lost jobs is proof the law’s unexpected success. After correctly noting that the report does not blame the job losses on disincentives for employers to provide jobs, and without noting that it also said such an effect might well occur when the delayed employer-mandate at last kicks in after the mid-term elections, Carney seemed proud that CBO found the initial job losses would result from Obamacare’s disincentives for employees to accept low-wage jobs rather than relinquish their health care subsidies and other benefits. As Carney thus explains it, those 2.5 million lost jobs mean “Americans would no longer be trapped in a job just to provide coverage for their families, and would have the opportunity to pursue their dreams.

Any Americans who don’t dream of a life of care-free welfare dependency probably wouldn’t put it in such poetic terms”

While it may seem ridiculous to us now, but to the Left's Left who are in thrall to the writings of Karl Marx, not having a job is actually the ideal goal.

“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”

Of course this was written by a man who didn't hunt, fish, or rear cattle.  Instead he spent his time in the library.  And who is this "society" who regulates the general production?  In the mind of the Left that would be the hordes or regulators that go forth like Viking raiders from academia via Washington. 

Of course the Obama Palace Guard (formerly known as the press) immediately swung into action telling us that the "free money" coming from Obama's Stash makes it a great thing that more people can now go on the dole.  We can hardly wait for them to go hunt, fish, herd cattle and become critics after dinner.  Yeah, that's what they will do.  Here's a handy chart from Zero Hedge.

What doe you do if 95 million people can't find jobs and the economy sucks?

If you're a Democrat you propose bringing in millions of illegal immigrants to take all the entry level jobs and raising the minimum wage so that Americans won't be hired.  Then you extend unemployment benefits for 50 years so that no one ever needs to actually get a job.

If you think unemployment has gone down, check these stgatistics

“34%: The unemployment rate for Americans ages 16-17. The unemployment rate for teenage Hispanic Americans is 48%, and the rate for teenage Black Americans is 60%.”

Why does Obama hate teens, Hispanics and Blacks?

Unemployment suddenly drops to 7% - sorry I’m not buying it.

From Foxbusiness.com:

The American economy added 203,000 jobs in November, higher than the 180,000 Wall Street anticipated. The unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage point to 7%, the lowest level since November 2008, while economists expected the rate to fall less to 7.2%. The labor force participation rate, which gauges the proportion of the population employed or seeking employment, rose to 63% from 62.8% in October.

How does this work? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the total labor force grew last month. They say that new jobs totaled 208,000 or an increase of 0.13% of the labor force. Yet they report a drop of 0.3% in the unemployment rate. 

From 7.3% to 7.0%.

That’s done by claiming that that 365,000 fewer people were unemployed last month that the month before. Looking at the BLS tables it’s easy to see that they simply changed the number for the civilian labor force to back into the unemployment rate.

This is not the first time the Obama Administration has fudged the unemployment numbers for political reasons.

Lots of good stuff on twitter

It. Gets. Worse. Life in Obama's Part-Time Service Economy

Gerard Vanderleun says: 

Yes, it's a satire. Sort of. Except that five will get you ten that everyone in it voted for Obama and still think he's a "pretty nice guy."

Part time America

The latest jobs report is explained by James Pethokoukis and David Burge.

 First Burge

Unemployment report in a nutshell: the Taco Bell that had 30 40 hour workers now has 40 30 hour workers.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 5, 2013

 

Now Pethokoukis:

As folks on Main Street surely know:

1. The economy lost 240,000 full-time workers last month, according to the more volatile household survey, while gaining 360,000 part-time workers. In other words, the entire increase in the household measure of employment was accounted for by persons working part-time for economic reasons. The underemployment rate surged to 14.3% from 13.8%.

2. Does Obamacare explain the poor jobs mix? From the econ team at First Trust:

Given the volatility in these data series, we would not put too much emphasis on one month’s worth of data. However, it’s consistent with the large payroll gains for retail as well as restaurants & bars and probably shows some firms who would be hiring full-timers are hiring part-timers to avoid Obamacare.

3. Part-time America: There are 28 million part-time workers in US vs. 25 million before the Great Recession. There are 116 million full-time workers in US vs. 122 million before the Great Recession. In other words, 19% of the (smaller) US workforce is part time vs. 17% before the Great Recession

4. Some context: Even at 195,000 jobs a month, the US would not, according to Brookings, return to pre-Great Recession employment levels until 2021. The “jobs gap” remains huge.

5. If the labor force participation rate were back to prerecession levels, the unemployment rate would be 11.1%. And even accounting for America’s aging, the U-3 rate would be roughly 9.1%, according to Goldman Sachs.

Of course, this kind of analysis is not to be found in the MSM.  They take the headline number and tell us about The Great Obama (forgive me, I just finished reading The Great Gatsby and found this "classic" really lousy).

DRUDGE: Feb Job Numbers

Notice that the more you vote for Obama, the worse off you are?

Or is it that the worse off you are the more you vote for Obama?

FEB JOBS NUMBERS...

+236,000...

7.7%...

WHITES: 6.8%...

HISPANICS: 9.6%...

BLACKS: 13.8%...

TEENS: 25.1%...

Santelli: 'Are We THAT Far Down the Hole?'

This is what a Harry Reid recovery looks like

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday said the American economy is "in a recovery"

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: OBAMA ENDING JOBS COUNCIL

Election's over.  Why keep the charade up?