The Con's Entire Story About the Economy Fell Apart This Week

[malaise]

https://slate.com/business/2019/07/trump-gdp-report-economy.html

This week, much of the story that the White House likes to tell about its economic record fell apart.

It’s not just that growth appears to have slowed, though it has. On Friday, the Commerce Department reported that the country’s gross domestic product expanded at a middling 2.1 percent annual rate during the the second quarter, down from 3.1 percent over the first three months of 2019. This was only a preliminary estimate, a guesstimate really; the government will gather more data and revise that number in the coming months. But it was clearly worrisome to Donald Trump, who tried in vain to put a glass-half-full spin on the news while also placing blame for any weakness on his nemeses at the Federal Reserve.

[Wounded Bear]

1. The Obama expansion is finally winding down...

[malaise]

2. Makes sense

[Wounded Bear]

17. They propped it up with the tax cut...

which kept the market going for a while. Meahwhile, inflation has kept up. Between tariffs and the weather, farm crops and their prices are totally out of whack. Trump's shit stirring in the Middle East are inflating fuel prices.

An economy will only go so far on smoke and mirrors. Sooner or later, when all the things that support a real economy collapse, so does the rest. They learned that in 1929.

[calimary]

6. The article speaks of an eight percent lay-off of workers

by Halliburton (dick cheney’s onetime company). Made me wonder how many of those who stand to lose their jobs voted for trump.

[yardwork]

14. It's mean but part of me hopes the racists who supported him all suffer.

It's mean. I'm going to hell.

[Scarsdale]

24. Oh Dickless Cheney

will do very well, he has stock in the private prison industry.

[Wellstone ruled]

29. Having spend a

stint in that field of work,I would say 99.9%.

[KPN]

8. Yup.

[Baitball Blogger]

16. +1

[certainot]

22. and they will blame deemocrats and obama for the slow down - that's what

limbaugh always does for them and why they don't ever have to take responsibility for any of their failures and mistakes. all other major media will offer differing takes, even fox will provide a guest of two to refute the con positions. those radio stations and that unchallenged buzz are the major reason the republicans always get to have it both ways.

[Dan]

27. So Trump

will blame Obama for not continuing the expansion?

[MontanaMama]

3. Say it loud and say it clear...

EVERYTHING the MF touches turns to shit. Full stop.

[Wounded Bear]

4. #ETTD...nt

[alterfurz]

9. aka/dba King Mierdas

you can't spell "Donald Trump" without "turd"

[ChazInAz]

20. I'm a theatre person.

I prefer "Ubu Roi".

[smirkymonkey]

23. That's perfect!

Compare this description of Ubu to Trump:

"The central character is notorious for his infantile engagement with his world. Ubu inhabits a domain of greedy self-gratification". Jarry's metaphor for the modern man, he is an antihero—fat, ugly, vulgar, gluttonous, grandiose, dishonest, stupid, jejune, voracious, greedy, cruel, cowardly and evil."

It's spot on.

[Wounded Bear]

33. Baron Harkonnen for SciFi buffs...

[malaise]

35. +1,000

[mucifer]

5. Nothing will stop the deplorable republicans other than possibly impeachment

hearings live on tv about so much more than obstruction of justice.

It looks like that is where we are headed, thankfully.

[watoos]

7. The 2.1% is suspicious to me,

when the night before experts were predicting 1.8% growth. I wonder what happened overnight?

[yardwork]

12. Easy. Lie about the numbers. The media won't bother to verify.

[pecosbob]

13. Skirt meet sunshine

or ass meet smoke...your preference.

[NotASurfer]

28. I suspect they'll issue a revised estimate on top of that

A couple months down the road, as "more data about actual economic activity" becomes available. Something a few tenths of a percent higher will do. Enough for a round of loud propaganda to plant the lie in the minds of the red-hatted, khaki-and-tiki-torch believers who drink the kool-ade and call it wine. Just like his finances, one set of books for his creditors showing glowing prosperity, a second set for the tax agents showing that a homeless beggar has more assets.

[NewJeffCT]

30. watch, in a month or two

the number will quietly be revised down to 2.0 or 1.9%

[Iliyah]

10. But . . .

the economy is BOOMING!

[yardwork]

11. I don't believe anything his people say anyway.

I don't trust his Commerce Secretary to tell the truth or release accurate data.

[Takket]

15. He and Putin have done everything they can to torpedo the economy

Looks like Obama’s economy finally crested and is on the way back down. Not wishing any I’ll will on struggling but the economy is the only reason drumpf is around 40% and not in the 20s. So if it going to recess no matter what hopefully sooner than later so it crushes his re-election chances.

[Ilsa]

18. He'll ask for another billionaire tax cut for stimulus. nt

[Penn Voter]

19. Agent Orange will blame

it on Obama and the "democrat" party. A vile narcissist will never accept responsibility for anything that goes wrong.

[spanone]

21. ...and he takes no blame. It's all the fault of the fed chair...

whom he appointed...

[safeinOhio]

25. Their over used excuse, the tax breaks for the rich

were not large enough, so we will redo it to save the economy.

[bucolic_frolic]

26. I think stagflation is what's going on

because I see sluggish sales or worse, higher prices, higher gas prices, and a drop in help wanted ads. Trump doesn't understand the economy at all. He bought into the supply side Club for Growth. But what we have is overcapacity due to a decade of QE1-2-3, so tons of goods, but merchants are feeling it and not stocking up. It's like the whole supply chain is being backed up or stopped, while inflation rushes forward as all portions of the supply chain try to maintain profits, yet consumers have had their fill.

The 3 worst things I see are 1) no one is borrowing as if it's 2008 all over again; Discover offered me 12 months of 0% balances, zero, and 2) the Fed has no room to stimulate anything, they have lost control. Gold is roaring, crypto's are booming, yet we have sluggish economy, and 3) the stock market is peaking. It can't get going, profits are stretched and faltering, and it's a 10 year bull market. A fall is overdue. Printing money forever won't help it.

This will spiral downward quickly. I expect layoffs to begin in the fall, and winter after it's a lousy holiday season. Screaming on the Tweet Machine about growth, Powell, Democrats, oil, Iran, and money is not going to help. If anything, he's panicking some people because of his signs of desperation.

[Prosper]

32. I believe your fall is overdue is eminent

and the recovery is impossible because there is nothing to start back up. The multi trillion dollar USA debt will continue to grow because lenders can’t take a chance by messing with the debt. The USA holds the upper hand and is another super power winner because no lender can take a chance on forcing the U$A hand and losing everything, That is the power any mega number debtor has over a lender,

[Prosper]

31. The excuse for a tax cut

is the money left to the citizens will be spent inspiring prosperity. If that were true then to truly utilize that theory then the tax cut would have been directed as refunds to the working class. In that case 100% of the money would have been spent into the USA economy. Truly acting as a stimulus. The returned to the citizen tax cut is one more step to lunacy by removing more money from the economy. Trump’s trillion dollar tax cut was exactly that amount of lost jobs and lost income to the US economy. So how much of the lost 2.3 trillion dollar revenue will be spent requiring new jobs and new products producing more revenue for the USA? Not nearly as much as if he had been left in control of the government.

[Dawson Leery]

34. The NY Times moved the goal posts for Trump, saying he promised 3% when he actually said 4%.