The Democrat claim that Biden has created the most jobs in history is massive data crime. Jobs returning after COVID lockdowns is not job creation. The only thing the government creates is waste and narrative control.
I am not sure what is more odious - their BS claim of job creation, or the fact that there is a portion of the population that actually buys what they are selling.
Biden learned from Obama. In 2009 the Obama administration conjured up a statistic even more phony than "job creation" statistics that all politicians had used before. As a metric to rate the success of the new administration's "stimulus" (another fictional concept) passed in early 2009. "Jobs Saved or Created":
A meaningless measurement that had never been used before 2009 in any government unemployment statistical measure. Deceit. As if counting a job "saved" is even possible. Meant to convey an authoritative finding of economists asserting there was a return on the investment of $800 billion of taxpayers money. When there was none, or it was nominal, and a net negative return. Taxpayer money did make corporate and Democratic party constituencies like labor unions and environment profiteers very happy, some jobs were created for them, maybe even saved. But not for the rest of America.
By 2010 even the Associated Press called the measurement bullshite:
The linguistic sorcerers employed by those in power do a lot of gymnastics with words. Linguistic Olympic gold medalists. Like with "Consensus." Meaningless. But meant to convey authority:
People chose the delusion they desire. They will choose the "news" sources that support what they want to believe. This is the core of party loyalty: you make The Party the the identity
Even my 4 year old knows if he breaks his toy and I manage to fix it that he didn’t get a new toy and yet, there are people in this country who believe the lies. That, to me, is the most depressing part.
They don’t even realize they are being lied to. The Network they either watch or read from are spewing out the lies quite happily. No pushback from the MSM questioning the validity of any of it.
Indeed. We sure could use some Socratic Method and critical thinking these days to get to the bottom of what ails us on many fronts. Seems the TPTB would rather have us all drink hemlock....or shoot it up!!
I was going to say FINANCIAL RECKLESSNESS but then realized that that's probably been true or half of all societies at any moment - those that are in decline.
The job creation claim is the flip side of the $1.7trillion debt reduction claim. I totally agree with Bongino that Biden is a sociopathic psychopathic liar...and lives the Joy!
The facts and figures show that even with the dishonest practice the claim is completely false.
Still fewer jobs now than before the 2020 fiasco.
But the real "news" is in the makeup of those "new" jobs. More bottom end than top end. More poverty sustaining than economic mobility. Which is consistent with the policies of The Party for decades folks.
BTW The Party is my term for what has become 2 parties in show but only one when it matters. If you think your party is "the best" I ask you, better than what? Then I ask you to review the record of legislatures.
After one natural disaster many years ago a priest in the parish I was at told the congregation that for every dollar we donated, "the government" would chip in another dollar to support the people affected. This idea that "the government" is some rich uncle who wills money into existence seems to be everywhere (in Canada anyway). I'd like to meet "the government" some day and find where they mine their money from.
Oh our local municipality worships on the altar of federal dollars, as it is thought of like 'free money'. State the same way. (if we don't get the money, it will just go to surrounding cities/states/counties) Our city manager was pimping signing off on a 'regional climate action plan' as he said that the 'inflation reduction act' provision for climate measures (with $4.6 BILLION of our money in it) requires cities to have a climate plan in order to suck from the federal teat, and we 'need' the money for things such as stormwater mitigation projects. Fortunately our public works committee swatted down this regional monstrosity and said, eh, no, we will make our own (scaled back) plan. So a partial victory I suppose.
It would be funny if it were not so tragic. My wife and I learned early on not to use government programs when we home schooled our kids. There were "free" laptops, "free" curriculums etc. available to us. Instead we did the minimum reporting possible and avoided those creeps. To give you an idea of what we face here in Canada:
Wow - In 2023, the average Canadian family will earn $140,106 in income and pay an estimated $64,610 in total taxes (46.1%). Seems crazy but I would bet the US % is similar or worse. I am self employed in the US, and so have to write a check (yes a paper check as I will NEVER give the IRS electronic access) once a quarter for estimated taxes. In W2 land, federal taxes are taken out of people's checks automatically, and with direct deposit, I would guess most people do not even look at their electronic pay stubs to view the damages. If EVERYONE had to write that check every quarter, maybe some would vote and vet candidates differently. When my kids got jobs as teenagers, I made them log in and look at their pay stubs, and showed them that they were not only working for the local burger joint, they were also working for uncle federal.
In the US the same family would be in a 22% income tax bracket plus regional taxes which vary from 5% in Alaska to 12.47% in New York depending on the state. So 44.5% would be the highest tax burden.
Frankly, I'd prefer taxes I can decide to pay - like my 6% MD Sales Tax - to Tribute (Income) Tax, which is basically like a Pot Luck Box of Chocolate Slugs.
In fact, I think I'd favor eliminating Income Tax and _only_ taxing consumption. To my mind, that means that those who Buy the Most Stuff pay the most taxes - which they already do, by a ginormous longshot; I digress - but there are those who suggest comsumption taxes hurt the least well off the most.
I'm still trying to find some solid footing for either position on that, if y'all have any but, as of hitting Post on this comment, I'd like to see Purchase Taxes Only.
There also other hidden taxes. Everything we buy has been taxed at almost every step in its production and distribution.
Think of the difference between the sticker price of a new car and the price of same car if there were no such thing as taxes. The difference is another tax that you are paying.
But that is not counting: use tax, sales tax, utility taxes, phone taxes, property taxes, gas tax, state income tax and more! With the proliferation of CIDs and TDDs in my area, sales tax is knocking on the door of 10% in most shopping districts. So yeah, federal rate may be lower, but people generally don't account for the death by a thousand cuts everywhere else. I did not read the full analysis on the Canadian site but they do say governmentS so I presume they are counting more than Federal.
I did include some state taxes per this table. https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494. The number for Canada would have been for Provincial and Federal income tax. In addition we pay GST and PST 5% - 16%, property taxes, Carbon tax on fuel, including home heating and agriculture, now more than 40% of a litre of fuel. Not to get into a contest about who’s got it worse. I think we can agree the government takes far too much and we don’t get a good return on our money.
I always thought that tax freedom day was July 8, but that was before I was disemployed for declining my ClotShot(TM). The medical director even offered me the J&J so I could only take one, after I had specifically referred to the injections as ClotShots.
I agree with Donna (below Randy above) about trying to keep the gov't. out of my bank accounts, although as Justin demonstrated, that's a bit of a quixotic ambition.
"but that was before I was disemployed for declining my ClotShot(TM)"
I'm so sorry to hear this but applaud you for standing strong. It's hard when faced with such dire consequences.
Those who were fired for not getting the jab - except for those who died from it, which is a really big downside, to be fair - have suffered some of the greatest consequences of this Massive Graft Opportunity.
Never having been in a bar with a "Government Guy", I hadn't actually noticed that characteristic of the species. But I have no difficulty in accepting your observation as eminently believable. Governments DO, after all, simply "will money into existence".
This is a big reason that California keeps their stupid light rail project going -- every dollar they spend "unlocks" federal dollars.
---------------------
“Transit capital projects are critically important for our economy and climate goals,” Sen. Weiner stated. “For every dollar California invests in transit infrastructure, it will receive up to $10 in federal matching funds.”
That is if the agencies limit their use of flexible funding for operational costs and preserve most of the capital funding for infrastructure projects.
Sen. Wiener alluded to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed, which appropriated the largest federal investment in infrastructure, including transit infrastructure, in recent history. “It would be short-sighted to cannibalize significant transit capital funds and forfeit billions in federal matching funds.”
Somewhat surprised to see an economics piece especially in a time when economic policy aside, both parties are willing if not happy to destroy our rights and freedoms.
Unless we avoid what I’m persuaded will lead to mass murder like it usually (always?) does, once totalitarians get power, I’d say the traditional economics is moot.
That all said, I felt a wriggle of pleasure NOT to be reading about takeovers and coups by lunatic satanists!!
I've seen a massive explosion in people creating their own jobs and destinies these past three years. Silly old men who are losing their minds will say anything, and silly old men and women who are losing their minds will listen to them anytime.
The disgust I feel toward Nancy Pelosi's nephew, Gavin, is rivaled by no politician. He literally fails upward one job at a time, and now he lurks on the fringes, biding his time waiting for Joey Shit for Brains to punch his ticket.
Gavin started the train wreck that is the current SF, then moved onto governor and wrecked the state that is probably the easiest to govern. I mean, CA is the state equivalent of being born on third base.
Now he has his sights set on the nation. He sees the actuarial tables, snipes at R candidates, and ...
"The disgust I feel toward Nancy Pelosi's nephew, Gavin, is rivaled by no politician. He literally fails upward one job at a time, and now he lurks on the fringes, biding his time waiting for Joey Shit for Brains to punch his ticket."
I'm going to throw a name out that I think y'all are going to hear more about in the coming election cycle: Newly elected MD Gov Wes Moore.
I think they know Newsom is indeed a train wreck and they're scrambling for a viable candidate, what with RFK, Jr, OA* looking like a serious contender. I think they're setting the table to have Oprah introduce Wes Moore when they announce his Prez Run. He's like if Barack Obama had JD Vance's back story - only he doesn't. They just wish he did so they'll try to convince us that he did.
--
That means the field is wide open: #Pi/Gardner 2024: We probably won't make $#!+ any worse!
Despite the cost, resurrecting the steel industry in the US is probably a national security issue. Given our propensity of late to piss off or embarrass ourselves nearly every country in the world, we probably should be able to produce as many key raw materials as we can here. Washing machines, maybe not so much, although I personally do like clean clothes. 'Supply chain issues' may have eventually done this organically, as companies are re-thinking sole source contracts and such, but who knows, the government has screwed up the free market so much it's harder to tell. And part of this is our fault, for buying the lies about job creation and other economic metrics coming from our dear leaders.
There are several industries where I believe it is in our self interest as a country to eat the costs of producing in the US. Along with raw materials (oil!) some technology and for sure medications (like antibiotics and ibuprofen m, etc). We need to have the ability to not be reliant on foreign powers for certain industries and critical items.
Well yes, semiconductor chips, too, given the saber rattling over Taiwan. Our region is home to a Ford plant, and when the chip shortage started, Ford rented a huge parking lot from whoever owns it in my town. It had been an auto auction site but it closed, so a convenient sea of concrete to park hundreds of F-150's that were assembled but still needed the chips. Those trucks have been sitting there....FOR 2 YEARS! No wonder I can't afford to buy a new car - that cost of all that unproductive inventory is definitely baked into the price of every vehicle they sell.
Yes, interestingly, I took my vacuum in to a local shop for repair, and the lady there ended up talking me into buying a Miele vaccuum (a brand I had never heard of) instead of fixing my Dyson. All metal parts and suspect it will outlive me.
I had always had Swedish Electrolux (began with hand-down from husband's grandmother, 51 years ago), but as that brand 'went south' (and darned $$, too), I moved to Miele about 27 years ago. Now have two of them.
Thanks for confirming what I had only wondered about. I spent a hard-to-part-with $750 on that last Electrolux (the only one I ever had to purchase, the 3 others being more familial hand-downs) 30-35 years ago !!! Over-priced and under-performing. So sad.
What, no lead pipes like some areas of the US. Maybe that's why as a child, my grand parents always said to let the water run a bit before drinking. Then again we kids drank from the garden hose. 😎 we also drank from small rocky streams. As long as the water was moving, it was safe.
I hear your tears. I have many "Made in USA"/"Made in Canada" tools and pieces of equipment in my shop and antique tool collection. Many items are well over 100 years old. And they work very well.
They were made, as you posit, to do a job, and "to be the best that could be made".
Ask me how pissed off I was that among the few possessions my mother did get rid of before she died was her ancient Electrolux canister vac. I suspect she traded it in (or just tossed it) for the wretched new upright which I threw out because it was impossible to wrangle its detachable parts.
That may be so, Dr Y, but ALL kraut kars $uck bigtime...this ol'mechanic has worked at toyota,honda&mazda & the vw/audi dealership stocked more electronic replacement parts on/behind/under the shelves than the 3 japs put together...German stuff is breathtakingly over -engineered & sadly consistently unreliable...The bottom line is the car owner pays thru the nose for repairs, & often waiting for unobtainiums, while the technician tears his hair out due to being unable to diagnose &then replace the friggin' part, which is always buried behind/under a labyrinth of this n'that...ps not a one of my pals at the MB dealer drive a MB...'nuff said
Same was the recommendation of my mechanic when I had to replace my car 4 years ago--avoid the German makes, over-engineered, labor/parts costs way too high. I bought a little Ford Fiesta to replace my Hyundai Elantra.
"only making top flight participants in the market."
And yet the country who produced such luminaries in the field of Thermodynamics as Otto, Diesel, and Wankel still think Nuclear's dumb and that they'll get those BigPropellerBeaniesOnPikes spinning at any minute!
It is worth noting that the US steel industry hasn't had a resurrection despite the tariffs. Production went down after their instantiation (presumably as manufacturers switched to aluminum and other cheaper metals) and the industry closed a few smelters. It took a bit to get back to earlier levels, but even then hasn't gone above what it had been previously. (See https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/steel-production)
I think the problem with US steel production has little to do with relative tariff rates, and everything to do with being regulated out of existence from 1000's of angles. (Steel production requires a lot of electricity, mining, and less than perfectly safe working conditions, for example, all of which the government makes very expensive.)
True, I ran a manufacturing organization for 11 years and the amount of time, money and aggravation of dealing with OSHA, EPA, State and a host of other alphabet soup regs and inspectors is non productive in both time, money and energy that translates into higher costs we all pay. Not saying we should have unsafe sweatshops dumping pollutants into lakes and streams. but what started out being a legitimate concern has morphed into the monster it is today. An adjacent city used to have a huge steel plant that in its heyday employed thousands of people and supported the surrounding working-class neighborhoods with jobs that passed from generation to generation. Closed in 2001, victim of private equity and environmental concerns and the plant and surrounding neighborhoods have languished ever since. Far as I know the site is just a brownfield today.
Note that this "regulatory" regime keeps the big businesses (political donors) insulated from competition from smaller companies, which can't afford the "compliance" costs.
Yes, 2020 showed us that in spades. Small biz was 'too risky' but hordes could fight over TP in Walmart and Target all day long. Big biz actually lobbies FOR regulation.
"Not saying we should have unsafe sweatshops dumping pollutants into lakes and streams..."
I'd argue that businesses truly interested in sustained long-term existence would take these sorts of things into account with the appropriate emphasis on which things actually bring ROI, that BigIronFist is unnecessary.
Well big corporations tend to manage and think about as far as the next earnings report, and how it will affect their stock options. I don't trust big corps to do the right thing any more than big government, but there has to be a way to reign in the worst of the abuses without creating a government within a government that is not elected and has zero accountability.
EVERYTHING they say are lies. Only children and those who engage in Three Card Monte on the subway platform believe what they tell us. Let's start again. Call it a Great Reset.
Losing millions of jobs during 2020-2021 and then bringing some of them back is not job creation. You need a baseline created at some previous point in time and adjust it for job losses and gains in relation to the work force, which is in constant Flux. The monthly job report is all show for politicians and Wall Street.
Tariffs, quotas and other restraints of trade that our public serpents impose on us would be considered an act of war if another country tried to do it to us.
Here's a few more facts from an admiring Newsom source:
"The pain in California has been acute. Nearly 40,000 small businesses had closed in the state by September 2020— more than in any other state since the pandemic began..."
Of course governement creates jobs. Military, police, basic infrastructure, and such - all bought from private businesses using taxes.
Where they go wrong is as per your example of washing machine tariffs, or any kind of "welfare for work"-programme, which is something Keynes himself warned about. His suggestion, that a brief and limited investment using tax-money was a way to help a nation out of a crisis, the kind of crisis where private capital refuse to invest due to being risk-averse and not caring about how the rest of the people fare at all.
Keynes was eminently clear on that it might not work, that there was a danger of becoming a permanent feature of policy (something we definitely can say has happened), and that it had to belimited and focused in scope and time.
I wonder why libertarians have this compulsion about demonising Keynes of all people. It detracts most severly from any argument, since he and his theories are never fairly represented; probably because no libertarian has bothered actually going to the source material, but is instead repeating "truths" from inside the libertarian echo-chamber. Identical to modern-day marxists.
Personally, I don't even want the state to underwrite banks. Want to put your money in a private bank? It's on you to do so, just don't expect my taxes to bail you out, eh? The counter-argument usually is along the line of "But if the state doesn't underwrite banks, no-one would dare use them!" I fail to see the problem, plus that if a for-profit business-venture cannot break even on its own, it should fail.
No subsidies, no bail-outs, no loopholes or deductions or write-offs or anything in the tax-code. As simple a tax-codeas possible, and as low taxes as possible, under a system where politicians are elected managers only, having to ask via referenda for any and all projects et c.
Just thought I'd include that, since most people - even here on Substack - are seemingly only capable of binary thought these days, something that is really worrying but a different topic.
The binary view is so true. If you don’t support American involvement in the war in Ukraine you’re pro-Russia. If you don’t think Donald Trump is the savior of the people you’re a communist. If you think Joe Biden is a demented old man you’re a fascist. If you don’t think every welfare program ever created is a good thing you hate poor people. If you have a problem with private for profit prisons you’re pro-crime.
"Personally, I don't even want the state to underwrite banks. Want to put your money in a private bank? It's on you to do so, just don't expect my taxes to bail you out, eh? The counter-argument usually is along the line of "But if the state doesn't underwrite banks, no-one would dare use them!"
He was also a close friend of Keynes. Thought Keynes was a first rate mind, too.
But Keynes didn't care enough about the things he didn't know to educate himself... so he just spouted off half-baked ideas about economics. Unfortunately, those were all filled with the Fatal Conceit; that's probably why they found such fertile seed among the political class that favors control of others.
"I wonder why libertarians have this compulsion about demonising Keynes of all people."
Because libertarians tend to lean Hayek and subscribe to the Austrian School of Economics and see the Hand of BigFedGov as undoing the good work of Smith's Invisible Hand.
I could pretend to an expert or just share these videos. They're funny and informative but not dismissive or condescending and afford an opportunity for the viewer to examine the differences and draw their own conclusions.
--
For the Uninitiated and Interested, Keynes does have a pretty bad@$$ 'stache but I'd rather party with Hayek:
"Fear the Boom and Bust: Keynes vs. Hayek - The Original Economics Rap Battle!"
Took my daughter on a cruise to Mexico recently. It was her 1st time ever stepping foot in a foreign country. We stepped off the ship in Ensenada and were immediately set upon by men, women, and children all trying to sell us stuff like hand made trinkets, chicklets, fake silver, horseback rides, tours, hair extensions, coupons for bars and drugs...it was crazy!
My young daughter looked up at me and asked “why are all these people doing this? Don’t they have jobs?”
I stopped walking and took her aside and told her: “this is a free country. They are asking you for money in exchange for goods and services. Unlike back in our country where they just beg for money and offer nothing in return. Do you see anyone here just sitting on a street corner with a sign to just give them something for nothing? No, you don’t.”
She gave me that look that said she needs to think about what I just said 🤔. Then she asked me for $5 because a girl offered to cornrow her hair for $10 and she wanted to go haggle with her 😃
“this is a free country. They are asking you for money in exchange for goods and services. Unlike back in our country where they just beg for money and offer nothing in return. Do you see anyone here just sitting on a street corner with a sign to just give them something for nothing? No, you don’t.”
This is a fantastic point.
Raw Capitalism. No Coercion. No Subsidies. Voluntary Exchange of Value for Value.
The girl who offered to cornrow my daughter’s hair was probably 15-16 years old. She learned how to cornrow hair, probably from her mother, had a picture taken of herself or a friend with the cornrows she did, pasted it to a card that said “hair braiding $10”, and gets up at 6am with her tools and the card and walks several miles to where the cruise ships dock every morning and approached hundreds of strangers and sells! sells! sells!
That is what “job creation” looks like in a free country.
In the USA, laws are passed to “protect” us from “unlicensed” merchants. The cost of the “license” to braid hair or arrange flowers or whatever is usually out of reach unless you work for a pimp (err…I mean “licensed” big company)
So you have little choice but to simply beg at street corners. That, apparently, does not require permission from the government.
Dont get me wrong, I am not naive. I know there is corruption, child labor, and cartels running rampant in Mexico. Some of them even take advantage of the children working the cruise ships I speak of.
I just think that it is the same here in the USA, the names of the cartels and corrupt institutions are different to protect the guilty here.
It’s not government’s fault that people have no reading, comprehension or reasoning skills. I mean, it’s not like government controls education. Errrr- oh- yeah... well, uh...
The Democrat claim that Biden has created the most jobs in history is massive data crime. Jobs returning after COVID lockdowns is not job creation. The only thing the government creates is waste and narrative control.
I am not sure what is more odious - their BS claim of job creation, or the fact that there is a portion of the population that actually buys what they are selling.
“They are either fools or they take you for one” it’s the second one.
Apparently there were 81 million fools who “voted” him in. We’ll see how he fares when the economy crashes and he doesn’t have Covid to blame!
The sheep will beg for more
Oh, yeah, I forgot…he can (and will) still blame Trump!
Biden learned from Obama. In 2009 the Obama administration conjured up a statistic even more phony than "job creation" statistics that all politicians had used before. As a metric to rate the success of the new administration's "stimulus" (another fictional concept) passed in early 2009. "Jobs Saved or Created":
https://web.archive.org/web/20100712225301/http://www.businessandmedia.org:80/articles/2009/20090512100953.aspx
https://web.archive.org/web/20100221014007/http://www.heritage.org:80/research/economy/bg2305.cfm
A meaningless measurement that had never been used before 2009 in any government unemployment statistical measure. Deceit. As if counting a job "saved" is even possible. Meant to convey an authoritative finding of economists asserting there was a return on the investment of $800 billion of taxpayers money. When there was none, or it was nominal, and a net negative return. Taxpayer money did make corporate and Democratic party constituencies like labor unions and environment profiteers very happy, some jobs were created for them, maybe even saved. But not for the rest of America.
By 2010 even the Associated Press called the measurement bullshite:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100115104550/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100113/ap_on_bi_ge/us_stimulus_counting_jobs
The linguistic sorcerers employed by those in power do a lot of gymnastics with words. Linguistic Olympic gold medalists. Like with "Consensus." Meaningless. But meant to convey authority:
https://freedomfox.substack.com/p/consensus
Does it begin to make sense why one of the most influential Marxist academics of the past half century, Noam Chomsky, was a professor of linguistics?
An who is hosting Our Next Winter Olympics?🤔
Well, gymnastics is a Summer Olympics sport, so there's that 😏
People chose the delusion they desire. They will choose the "news" sources that support what they want to believe. This is the core of party loyalty: you make The Party the the identity
Even my 4 year old knows if he breaks his toy and I manage to fix it that he didn’t get a new toy and yet, there are people in this country who believe the lies. That, to me, is the most depressing part.
perhaps the more apt analogy for government would be you breaking his toy then fixing it...
They don’t even realize they are being lied to. The Network they either watch or read from are spewing out the lies quite happily. No pushback from the MSM questioning the validity of any of it.
Mk brainwashing
Perhaps I could add: fake money, forever wars and foreign dictators, ... the list is virtually endless. Narrative control is a necessary consequence.
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” The Greeks were into something.
"The Greeks were into something."
They were onto quite a few things.
Indeed. We sure could use some Socratic Method and critical thinking these days to get to the bottom of what ails us on many fronts. Seems the TPTB would rather have us all drink hemlock....or shoot it up!!
https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.2418016560.4328/poster,840x830,f8f8f8-pad,1000x1000,f8f8f8.jpg
They want to take everyones money, then disperse poverish pay checks to live in a cage
and LAWLESSNESS.
Especially this administration.
I was going to say FINANCIAL RECKLESSNESS but then realized that that's probably been true or half of all societies at any moment - those that are in decline.
...and pain and suffering, as they reverse what they are there to enforce--private property rights being one of them.
…and fear. That’s worth mentioning, too. They have a lot of guns and have a monopoly on “justified” use of violence.
And the most fearsome weapon of all - the Bureaucracy!
"Peace through Superior Firepower"
The job creation claim is the flip side of the $1.7trillion debt reduction claim. I totally agree with Bongino that Biden is a sociopathic psychopathic liar...and lives the Joy!
Destroy to Build Back Better?
Has anyone stopped and thought about this, It took them less than a year to level Ukraine. Who has the contract to Build it Back?
Blackrock is arranging that.
But that hair, it's soooo beautiful...
Biden or Gruesome? They both seem to have the Pat Riley look going.
The facts and figures show that even with the dishonest practice the claim is completely false.
Still fewer jobs now than before the 2020 fiasco.
But the real "news" is in the makeup of those "new" jobs. More bottom end than top end. More poverty sustaining than economic mobility. Which is consistent with the policies of The Party for decades folks.
BTW The Party is my term for what has become 2 parties in show but only one when it matters. If you think your party is "the best" I ask you, better than what? Then I ask you to review the record of legislatures.
After one natural disaster many years ago a priest in the parish I was at told the congregation that for every dollar we donated, "the government" would chip in another dollar to support the people affected. This idea that "the government" is some rich uncle who wills money into existence seems to be everywhere (in Canada anyway). I'd like to meet "the government" some day and find where they mine their money from.
Oh our local municipality worships on the altar of federal dollars, as it is thought of like 'free money'. State the same way. (if we don't get the money, it will just go to surrounding cities/states/counties) Our city manager was pimping signing off on a 'regional climate action plan' as he said that the 'inflation reduction act' provision for climate measures (with $4.6 BILLION of our money in it) requires cities to have a climate plan in order to suck from the federal teat, and we 'need' the money for things such as stormwater mitigation projects. Fortunately our public works committee swatted down this regional monstrosity and said, eh, no, we will make our own (scaled back) plan. So a partial victory I suppose.
It would be funny if it were not so tragic. My wife and I learned early on not to use government programs when we home schooled our kids. There were "free" laptops, "free" curriculums etc. available to us. Instead we did the minimum reporting possible and avoided those creeps. To give you an idea of what we face here in Canada:
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/canadians-celebrate-tax-freedom-day-on-june-19-2023 I did it! One day into freedom...until next year.
Wow - In 2023, the average Canadian family will earn $140,106 in income and pay an estimated $64,610 in total taxes (46.1%). Seems crazy but I would bet the US % is similar or worse. I am self employed in the US, and so have to write a check (yes a paper check as I will NEVER give the IRS electronic access) once a quarter for estimated taxes. In W2 land, federal taxes are taken out of people's checks automatically, and with direct deposit, I would guess most people do not even look at their electronic pay stubs to view the damages. If EVERYONE had to write that check every quarter, maybe some would vote and vet candidates differently. When my kids got jobs as teenagers, I made them log in and look at their pay stubs, and showed them that they were not only working for the local burger joint, they were also working for uncle federal.
In the US the same family would be in a 22% income tax bracket plus regional taxes which vary from 5% in Alaska to 12.47% in New York depending on the state. So 44.5% would be the highest tax burden.
There are also sales taxes, real estate taxes, gas taxes, etc, etc, ad nauseam. Total it up and more is taken from you than you get to keep.
Frankly, I'd prefer taxes I can decide to pay - like my 6% MD Sales Tax - to Tribute (Income) Tax, which is basically like a Pot Luck Box of Chocolate Slugs.
In fact, I think I'd favor eliminating Income Tax and _only_ taxing consumption. To my mind, that means that those who Buy the Most Stuff pay the most taxes - which they already do, by a ginormous longshot; I digress - but there are those who suggest comsumption taxes hurt the least well off the most.
I'm still trying to find some solid footing for either position on that, if y'all have any but, as of hitting Post on this comment, I'd like to see Purchase Taxes Only.
Yup, I added mine up and if I spent the money I make it’s over 70% going to taxes.
There also other hidden taxes. Everything we buy has been taxed at almost every step in its production and distribution.
Think of the difference between the sticker price of a new car and the price of same car if there were no such thing as taxes. The difference is another tax that you are paying.
But that is not counting: use tax, sales tax, utility taxes, phone taxes, property taxes, gas tax, state income tax and more! With the proliferation of CIDs and TDDs in my area, sales tax is knocking on the door of 10% in most shopping districts. So yeah, federal rate may be lower, but people generally don't account for the death by a thousand cuts everywhere else. I did not read the full analysis on the Canadian site but they do say governmentS so I presume they are counting more than Federal.
I did include some state taxes per this table. https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494. The number for Canada would have been for Provincial and Federal income tax. In addition we pay GST and PST 5% - 16%, property taxes, Carbon tax on fuel, including home heating and agriculture, now more than 40% of a litre of fuel. Not to get into a contest about who’s got it worse. I think we can agree the government takes far too much and we don’t get a good return on our money.
That's before you even consider the taxes you pay when you SPEND your money.
I always thought that tax freedom day was July 8, but that was before I was disemployed for declining my ClotShot(TM). The medical director even offered me the J&J so I could only take one, after I had specifically referred to the injections as ClotShots.
I agree with Donna (below Randy above) about trying to keep the gov't. out of my bank accounts, although as Justin demonstrated, that's a bit of a quixotic ambition.
"but that was before I was disemployed for declining my ClotShot(TM)"
I'm so sorry to hear this but applaud you for standing strong. It's hard when faced with such dire consequences.
Those who were fired for not getting the jab - except for those who died from it, which is a really big downside, to be fair - have suffered some of the greatest consequences of this Massive Graft Opportunity.
Thanks- no real damage, I had put in my forty years.
Good for you.
Sleep in tomorrow!
"This idea that "the government" is some rich uncle who wills money into existence"
I've noticed that this Government Guy never picks up the bar tab.
Never having been in a bar with a "Government Guy", I hadn't actually noticed that characteristic of the species. But I have no difficulty in accepting your observation as eminently believable. Governments DO, after all, simply "will money into existence".
Andy! *fist bump*
This is a big reason that California keeps their stupid light rail project going -- every dollar they spend "unlocks" federal dollars.
---------------------
“Transit capital projects are critically important for our economy and climate goals,” Sen. Weiner stated. “For every dollar California invests in transit infrastructure, it will receive up to $10 in federal matching funds.”
That is if the agencies limit their use of flexible funding for operational costs and preserve most of the capital funding for infrastructure projects.
Sen. Wiener alluded to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed, which appropriated the largest federal investment in infrastructure, including transit infrastructure, in recent history. “It would be short-sighted to cannibalize significant transit capital funds and forfeit billions in federal matching funds.”
Go talk to your neighbors
Well, you know that Canada is extremely rich in mineral wealth---and is known as extremely 'mining-friendly' .
Now, if Trudeau did not give all those minerals to the Chinese basic dictatorship he admires, we'd be golden (pun intended)!
Somewhat surprised to see an economics piece especially in a time when economic policy aside, both parties are willing if not happy to destroy our rights and freedoms.
Unless we avoid what I’m persuaded will lead to mass murder like it usually (always?) does, once totalitarians get power, I’d say the traditional economics is moot.
That all said, I felt a wriggle of pleasure NOT to be reading about takeovers and coups by lunatic satanists!!
once they finished ruining the economy they will create cbdc's and have totalitarian control
Looks like it's time to Go Long on BigCannedBeans
I've seen a massive explosion in people creating their own jobs and destinies these past three years. Silly old men who are losing their minds will say anything, and silly old men and women who are losing their minds will listen to them anytime.
The disgust I feel toward Nancy Pelosi's nephew, Gavin, is rivaled by no politician. He literally fails upward one job at a time, and now he lurks on the fringes, biding his time waiting for Joey Shit for Brains to punch his ticket.
Gavin started the train wreck that is the current SF, then moved onto governor and wrecked the state that is probably the easiest to govern. I mean, CA is the state equivalent of being born on third base.
Now he has his sights set on the nation. He sees the actuarial tables, snipes at R candidates, and ...
... waits.
"The disgust I feel toward Nancy Pelosi's nephew, Gavin, is rivaled by no politician. He literally fails upward one job at a time, and now he lurks on the fringes, biding his time waiting for Joey Shit for Brains to punch his ticket."
I'm going to throw a name out that I think y'all are going to hear more about in the coming election cycle: Newly elected MD Gov Wes Moore.
I think they know Newsom is indeed a train wreck and they're scrambling for a viable candidate, what with RFK, Jr, OA* looking like a serious contender. I think they're setting the table to have Oprah introduce Wes Moore when they announce his Prez Run. He's like if Barack Obama had JD Vance's back story - only he doesn't. They just wish he did so they'll try to convince us that he did.
--
That means the field is wide open: #Pi/Gardner 2024: We probably won't make $#!+ any worse!
*Original Antivaxxer
Yo, Pato!
*fist bump*
Keep Peddlin'!
Despite the cost, resurrecting the steel industry in the US is probably a national security issue. Given our propensity of late to piss off or embarrass ourselves nearly every country in the world, we probably should be able to produce as many key raw materials as we can here. Washing machines, maybe not so much, although I personally do like clean clothes. 'Supply chain issues' may have eventually done this organically, as companies are re-thinking sole source contracts and such, but who knows, the government has screwed up the free market so much it's harder to tell. And part of this is our fault, for buying the lies about job creation and other economic metrics coming from our dear leaders.
There are several industries where I believe it is in our self interest as a country to eat the costs of producing in the US. Along with raw materials (oil!) some technology and for sure medications (like antibiotics and ibuprofen m, etc). We need to have the ability to not be reliant on foreign powers for certain industries and critical items.
Well yes, semiconductor chips, too, given the saber rattling over Taiwan. Our region is home to a Ford plant, and when the chip shortage started, Ford rented a huge parking lot from whoever owns it in my town. It had been an auto auction site but it closed, so a convenient sea of concrete to park hundreds of F-150's that were assembled but still needed the chips. Those trucks have been sitting there....FOR 2 YEARS! No wonder I can't afford to buy a new car - that cost of all that unproductive inventory is definitely baked into the price of every vehicle they sell.
I believe Germany still makes most things they use, by the clever strategy of only making top flight participants in the market.
Miele, Siemens etc make some of the best & most expensive white goods.
Yes, interestingly, I took my vacuum in to a local shop for repair, and the lady there ended up talking me into buying a Miele vaccuum (a brand I had never heard of) instead of fixing my Dyson. All metal parts and suspect it will outlive me.
I have a Miele C3 last 4y and it’s the best vacuum I’ve ever owned :)
I had always had Swedish Electrolux (began with hand-down from husband's grandmother, 51 years ago), but as that brand 'went south' (and darned $$, too), I moved to Miele about 27 years ago. Now have two of them.
"Swedish Electrolux"
<Cries in swedish>
Oh, for the fate of our once-world famous industry, able to compete with nations twenty times our size!
All sacrificed by the capitalist owners on the altar of outsourcing for greater monetary profit and virtual slave-labour in Asia.
The water-pipes in the village here were laid down in the 1920s. Made from swedish steel by swedish craftsmen. They are still in use.
That's because they were made to be the best that could be made, not to increase the size of some investor's portfolio and bank account.
Thanks for confirming what I had only wondered about. I spent a hard-to-part-with $750 on that last Electrolux (the only one I ever had to purchase, the 3 others being more familial hand-downs) 30-35 years ago !!! Over-priced and under-performing. So sad.
What, no lead pipes like some areas of the US. Maybe that's why as a child, my grand parents always said to let the water run a bit before drinking. Then again we kids drank from the garden hose. 😎 we also drank from small rocky streams. As long as the water was moving, it was safe.
I hear your tears. I have many "Made in USA"/"Made in Canada" tools and pieces of equipment in my shop and antique tool collection. Many items are well over 100 years old. And they work very well.
They were made, as you posit, to do a job, and "to be the best that could be made".
Ask me how pissed off I was that among the few possessions my mother did get rid of before she died was her ancient Electrolux canister vac. I suspect she traded it in (or just tossed it) for the wretched new upright which I threw out because it was impossible to wrangle its detachable parts.
We still have the Electrolux vacuum I inherited from my mother. The one she bought in the mid 1950s. It still works. Well.
That's good to hear!
That may be so, Dr Y, but ALL kraut kars $uck bigtime...this ol'mechanic has worked at toyota,honda&mazda & the vw/audi dealership stocked more electronic replacement parts on/behind/under the shelves than the 3 japs put together...German stuff is breathtakingly over -engineered & sadly consistently unreliable...The bottom line is the car owner pays thru the nose for repairs, & often waiting for unobtainiums, while the technician tears his hair out due to being unable to diagnose &then replace the friggin' part, which is always buried behind/under a labyrinth of this n'that...ps not a one of my pals at the MB dealer drive a MB...'nuff said
Same was the recommendation of my mechanic when I had to replace my car 4 years ago--avoid the German makes, over-engineered, labor/parts costs way too high. I bought a little Ford Fiesta to replace my Hyundai Elantra.
But my Miele(s) I do like, mostly.
"only making top flight participants in the market."
And yet the country who produced such luminaries in the field of Thermodynamics as Otto, Diesel, and Wankel still think Nuclear's dumb and that they'll get those BigPropellerBeaniesOnPikes spinning at any minute!
I wish I had the skills to draw the meme that "BigPropellerBeaniesOnPikes" suggests.
We'll get you some Photoshop training.
I mean, we don't want you people done working just out and about on the streets!
It is worth noting that the US steel industry hasn't had a resurrection despite the tariffs. Production went down after their instantiation (presumably as manufacturers switched to aluminum and other cheaper metals) and the industry closed a few smelters. It took a bit to get back to earlier levels, but even then hasn't gone above what it had been previously. (See https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/steel-production)
I think the problem with US steel production has little to do with relative tariff rates, and everything to do with being regulated out of existence from 1000's of angles. (Steel production requires a lot of electricity, mining, and less than perfectly safe working conditions, for example, all of which the government makes very expensive.)
True, I ran a manufacturing organization for 11 years and the amount of time, money and aggravation of dealing with OSHA, EPA, State and a host of other alphabet soup regs and inspectors is non productive in both time, money and energy that translates into higher costs we all pay. Not saying we should have unsafe sweatshops dumping pollutants into lakes and streams. but what started out being a legitimate concern has morphed into the monster it is today. An adjacent city used to have a huge steel plant that in its heyday employed thousands of people and supported the surrounding working-class neighborhoods with jobs that passed from generation to generation. Closed in 2001, victim of private equity and environmental concerns and the plant and surrounding neighborhoods have languished ever since. Far as I know the site is just a brownfield today.
Note that this "regulatory" regime keeps the big businesses (political donors) insulated from competition from smaller companies, which can't afford the "compliance" costs.
Yes, 2020 showed us that in spades. Small biz was 'too risky' but hordes could fight over TP in Walmart and Target all day long. Big biz actually lobbies FOR regulation.
"Not saying we should have unsafe sweatshops dumping pollutants into lakes and streams..."
I'd argue that businesses truly interested in sustained long-term existence would take these sorts of things into account with the appropriate emphasis on which things actually bring ROI, that BigIronFist is unnecessary.
Well big corporations tend to manage and think about as far as the next earnings report, and how it will affect their stock options. I don't trust big corps to do the right thing any more than big government, but there has to be a way to reign in the worst of the abuses without creating a government within a government that is not elected and has zero accountability.
"Despite the cost, resurrecting the steel industry in the US is probably a national security issue."
And Pump More Oil. And you've already highlighted the Semiconductor Industry.
EVERYTHING they say are lies. Only children and those who engage in Three Card Monte on the subway platform believe what they tell us. Let's start again. Call it a Great Reset.
Losing millions of jobs during 2020-2021 and then bringing some of them back is not job creation. You need a baseline created at some previous point in time and adjust it for job losses and gains in relation to the work force, which is in constant Flux. The monthly job report is all show for politicians and Wall Street.
Tariffs, quotas and other restraints of trade that our public serpents impose on us would be considered an act of war if another country tried to do it to us.
Unless this is shown on MSNBC or CNN or the “old school” news broadcasts, it doesn’t exist. There’s nothing like keeping people ignorant.
Here's a few more facts from an admiring Newsom source:
"The pain in California has been acute. Nearly 40,000 small businesses had closed in the state by September 2020— more than in any other state since the pandemic began..."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/business/newsom-coronavirus-california.html
Take a glimpse at LA's
Skid Row and you'll get a vision of Newsom's America.🙀
https://youtu.be/1Q6H-GT7XzI
"Take a glimpse at LA's Skid Row and you'll get a vision of Newsom's America."
That's a NO from me, Dawg.
Of course governement creates jobs. Military, police, basic infrastructure, and such - all bought from private businesses using taxes.
Where they go wrong is as per your example of washing machine tariffs, or any kind of "welfare for work"-programme, which is something Keynes himself warned about. His suggestion, that a brief and limited investment using tax-money was a way to help a nation out of a crisis, the kind of crisis where private capital refuse to invest due to being risk-averse and not caring about how the rest of the people fare at all.
Keynes was eminently clear on that it might not work, that there was a danger of becoming a permanent feature of policy (something we definitely can say has happened), and that it had to belimited and focused in scope and time.
I wonder why libertarians have this compulsion about demonising Keynes of all people. It detracts most severly from any argument, since he and his theories are never fairly represented; probably because no libertarian has bothered actually going to the source material, but is instead repeating "truths" from inside the libertarian echo-chamber. Identical to modern-day marxists.
Personally, I don't even want the state to underwrite banks. Want to put your money in a private bank? It's on you to do so, just don't expect my taxes to bail you out, eh? The counter-argument usually is along the line of "But if the state doesn't underwrite banks, no-one would dare use them!" I fail to see the problem, plus that if a for-profit business-venture cannot break even on its own, it should fail.
No subsidies, no bail-outs, no loopholes or deductions or write-offs or anything in the tax-code. As simple a tax-codeas possible, and as low taxes as possible, under a system where politicians are elected managers only, having to ask via referenda for any and all projects et c.
Just thought I'd include that, since most people - even here on Substack - are seemingly only capable of binary thought these days, something that is really worrying but a different topic.
The binary view is so true. If you don’t support American involvement in the war in Ukraine you’re pro-Russia. If you don’t think Donald Trump is the savior of the people you’re a communist. If you think Joe Biden is a demented old man you’re a fascist. If you don’t think every welfare program ever created is a good thing you hate poor people. If you have a problem with private for profit prisons you’re pro-crime.
"Personally, I don't even want the state to underwrite banks. Want to put your money in a private bank? It's on you to do so, just don't expect my taxes to bail you out, eh? The counter-argument usually is along the line of "But if the state doesn't underwrite banks, no-one would dare use them!"
--------------
My response is: Deal!
Because Keynes didn't know shit, that's why.
Listen to his peers, like Hayek, explaining just how little Keynes knew of economics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8l47ilD0II
THAT'S why libertarians have contempt for Keynes.
I'd forgotten this interview.
Hayek is much funnier than the buttoned-up, little Old Austrian Man persona we tend to project on him.
He was also a close friend of Keynes. Thought Keynes was a first rate mind, too.
But Keynes didn't care enough about the things he didn't know to educate himself... so he just spouted off half-baked ideas about economics. Unfortunately, those were all filled with the Fatal Conceit; that's probably why they found such fertile seed among the political class that favors control of others.
"He was also a close friend of Keynes."
Whatever differences they might have had, they were mostly Contemporary Giants in Ecomonics. It's a pretty exclusive club.
"I wonder why libertarians have this compulsion about demonising Keynes of all people."
Because libertarians tend to lean Hayek and subscribe to the Austrian School of Economics and see the Hand of BigFedGov as undoing the good work of Smith's Invisible Hand.
I could pretend to an expert or just share these videos. They're funny and informative but not dismissive or condescending and afford an opportunity for the viewer to examine the differences and draw their own conclusions.
--
For the Uninitiated and Interested, Keynes does have a pretty bad@$$ 'stache but I'd rather party with Hayek:
"Fear the Boom and Bust: Keynes vs. Hayek - The Original Economics Rap Battle!"
https://youtu.be/d0nERTFo-Sk
"Fight of the Century - Keynes vs. Hayek - Round Two"
https://youtu.be/LA1-1DlhuXU
Great links! Made me wonder if I wasted four years, over five decades ago, listening to boring lectures.
Love the rap battles!
We need a new government to abolish this government, then the new government should all quit.
"Taking over the world and leaving it ruthlessly alone!"
- Sarah Hoyt
Took my daughter on a cruise to Mexico recently. It was her 1st time ever stepping foot in a foreign country. We stepped off the ship in Ensenada and were immediately set upon by men, women, and children all trying to sell us stuff like hand made trinkets, chicklets, fake silver, horseback rides, tours, hair extensions, coupons for bars and drugs...it was crazy!
My young daughter looked up at me and asked “why are all these people doing this? Don’t they have jobs?”
I stopped walking and took her aside and told her: “this is a free country. They are asking you for money in exchange for goods and services. Unlike back in our country where they just beg for money and offer nothing in return. Do you see anyone here just sitting on a street corner with a sign to just give them something for nothing? No, you don’t.”
She gave me that look that said she needs to think about what I just said 🤔. Then she asked me for $5 because a girl offered to cornrow her hair for $10 and she wanted to go haggle with her 😃
“this is a free country. They are asking you for money in exchange for goods and services. Unlike back in our country where they just beg for money and offer nothing in return. Do you see anyone here just sitting on a street corner with a sign to just give them something for nothing? No, you don’t.”
This is a fantastic point.
Raw Capitalism. No Coercion. No Subsidies. Voluntary Exchange of Value for Value.
The girl who offered to cornrow my daughter’s hair was probably 15-16 years old. She learned how to cornrow hair, probably from her mother, had a picture taken of herself or a friend with the cornrows she did, pasted it to a card that said “hair braiding $10”, and gets up at 6am with her tools and the card and walks several miles to where the cruise ships dock every morning and approached hundreds of strangers and sells! sells! sells!
That is what “job creation” looks like in a free country.
In the USA, laws are passed to “protect” us from “unlicensed” merchants. The cost of the “license” to braid hair or arrange flowers or whatever is usually out of reach unless you work for a pimp (err…I mean “licensed” big company)
So you have little choice but to simply beg at street corners. That, apparently, does not require permission from the government.
Dont get me wrong, I am not naive. I know there is corruption, child labor, and cartels running rampant in Mexico. Some of them even take advantage of the children working the cruise ships I speak of.
I just think that it is the same here in the USA, the names of the cartels and corrupt institutions are different to protect the guilty here.
"government does not and cannot create jobs on a net basis. they can only destroy them."
“Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin good forces have invented or made”
- JRR Tolkien
It’s not government’s fault that people have no reading, comprehension or reasoning skills. I mean, it’s not like government controls education. Errrr- oh- yeah... well, uh...