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Tag Archives: recession

The price is wrong?

13 Tuesday May 2025

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

4th Congressional District, economy, former newsreader, Gaslighter, gaslighting, Mark Alford, recession, right wingnut, social media, sycophant, that ridiculous hat, Trump sycophant

Mark Alford (r) [2023 file photo].

Today:

Congressman Mark Alford
[May 13, 2025]
Inflation remains at a four-year low in the latest Consumer Price Index report.
📉 Grocery prices declined the most in 5 years
📉 Gas prices are down for the 3rd month in a row
📉 Inflation is lower than expected for the 3rd straight month
GOP economic policies are working!

There is much hilarity in the responses:

This is Trump speak! Check your facts Mark! I thought you were a better person than you are showing! Sad!

Normal for inflation to be level during a recession.

Yep. Inflation cools when unemployment rises and consumer spending decreases.

We sure are seeing the result of “Republican economic policies”, to quote Alford, and it’s amazing in 3 short months how those policies shot everything to hell.

….I’m not sure where you’re shopping…

A little early in the morning to be drinking, isn’t it?

What dream world are you living in – oh the orange circus

I call BS. Even the prices at Aldi’s have gone up

Why must you lie nonstop!?

because he is a member of the Maga cult. Dishonesty is their language of choice

I just spent $200 at the grocery store. Didn’t buy much. If you think that grocery store prices are down, you aren’t a very smart person.

I spent $134 at the grocery last Friday. The only meat I purchased was precooked Turkey sausage.

[….] ..I have no idea where you are shopping or getting your gas, but our gas has not went down and the grocery certainly hasn’t!!!

research would shopping for food and filling my tank be research? My research show that in my local area the information he posted is horsesh&t

In what store do you or any of your cohorts shop at oh wait you don’t have to worry about shopping

Grocery prices are not down at all.

saying things over and over again do not make them true

I’m not experiencing lower prices either. My gas is def still high considering it shouldn’t be. I wish grocery stores would reverse their increases. But will only put things on sale rather than reverse all the upticks they have done. I wish government would penalize businesses for gouging.

Gas went UP 10 cents in my town in the last 2 days. $2.99

Not cheaper in the Midwest Not cheaper in KC! I don’t know where you get your data but it’s not local to your constituents!

Where are you shopping?!? Nothing has gone down in price in the Kansas City area.

Gas has not moved and no groceries have gotten cheaper and the cost of living still up so maybe go back and check the actual numbers!!!

Eggs are still over 5 dollars at Walmart. I don’t see prices down where we shop in Sedalia.

Not seeing gas prices decline. When left this morning Belton QT regular gas 2.87; when I came home this afternoon prices raised to $2.99. Why?

Nope
Prices are up

Are you high again?

Mark Alford Do you live in Missouri? What exactly are are the GOP policies?

Where do you shop?

Working for the rich !!

Hey Mark. When was the last time you went grocery shopping?

Isn’t it hysterical how Alford is claiming how prices and inflation is so wonderful when just a few months ago he was calling the same prices and inflation out of control. Gaslighting and hypocrisy is his two top qualities.

The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, rose 2.3% in April from 12 months earlier.
Eggs, Trump’s go-to issue, increased 49.3%.
This is a deflection anyway. Alford does not want you to look at the “big beautiful budget” that make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Moscow Mark, you’re in the dark….

“Make America Great Again” – in Russian.

You aren’t doing your own shopping apparently

Where do you live?

He’s just spreading the same BS as Trump.

Yea, but the guy who started it last time is back. This time he trying to make inflation and recession happen at the same time. Grow a pair and do your job.

What type of drugs you taking Congressman Mark Alford

But the shrinking GDP isn’t your fault, right?

Mr. Alford, when will you have a real, in-person, town hall, instead of another meet and greet, or a rigged, virtual town halls where you get to pick who attends and what questions you’ll answer? Where you have to listen to your constituents instead of just talking at them to tell them your party’s line?

We’re not fools, we’re out there everyday shopping.

Yes dear leader, I’ll say whatever you want dear leader, can I please get a photo with you dear leader, you’re the greatest golfer ever dear leader, can I get an invite to Mar-a-Looney dear leader, can I apply your orange paint dear leader. Kim jong-un doesn’t have sycophants as toady as elected MAGA republicans.

You really need to take a look at your disinformation. But for me, milk went up 53 cents a gallon and I shop at the cheapest place I can. Inflation is way up, thanks to your buddy

I’m from Belton and I’m telling you right now that you are spilling BS.

Mark Alford (r) [2025 file photo]

Belton.

Let’s talk about the ongoing constitutional crises.

Your whole party is gaslighting.
Why do you want to increase the debt ceiling again and cut public service, Medicaid, and increase funding to defense and I.C.E.?!
$40k bonuses to I.C.E. agents?? Fed and State employees don’t get bonuses!
Start working for your constituents and quit the loyalty to a fascist.

I just bought butter. It was twice the price when compared to a year ago. But sure. Keep licking Trumps boots. Or whatever you’re licking.

Lies. Please just stop insulting our intelligence

you lie like you breathe. constantly.

Because the orange jackass keeps folding on his tariffs as they manipulate the stock market to make billions for himself and his insider cronies.

This is the most corrupt president in American history. Taking an airplane from Qatar is not OK in anyone’s book. ICE has been disappearing people without due process. And our government is being dismantled. Why don’t you pay attention to the important things going on in this country right now.

Yeah…gas prices are down to 1.98 according to the president.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2 percent last month and is up 2.3 percent over the past year
The annual inflation rate without volatile food or energy prices was 2.8 percent.
In March, the inflation rate was 2.4% and prices rose 0.1 percent.
My math says that means things are getting worse.

“OH, we won’t touch Medicaid….. You said that, Congressman

Where do you get your economic news? We are heading to a recession by the end of the summer; independent news is reporting bare shelves starting next week.

I shop for a living. I’m at the grocery store for my clients 5 times a day and not only are you a liar, you’re a god damn liar. Prices at aldi and Walmart even have gone up drastically. Why the FUCK do you insist on gaslighting? You know if you keep it up, this will be your last round In politics. Lying pos

Here is the truth. People voted Republican NOT for what the party can do for them, but what the party does against people they h8, which is just about everyone who isn’t a WASP.

None of that is true and you know it’s a lie. My god man do you think everyone is stupid?

as a member of Congress, it is your responsibility to either approve of illegal gifts from foreign nations, or to admonish those who illegally benefit privately from foreign influence.
Why are you shirking your responsibilities?

So your drinking the kool-aid. My gas prices are still up .60 per gallon. Grocery prices are not down at all and I’m still waiting to see about produce availability. Get off that kool-aid.

Mark Alford (r) [2023 file photo].

For some reason people seem skeptical

09 Wednesday Apr 2025

Posted by Michael Bersin in Congress, Mark Alford, social media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

4th Congressional District, depression, Donald Trump, former newsreader, gaslighting, Mark Alford, recession, right wingnut, social media, stock market, sycophant, Tariffs, that ridiculous hat, Trump sycophant

Congressman Mark Alford
[April 9, 2025]
‼️ Look, we have a responsibility to our nation to protect Americans from the largest tax hike in history.
There’s no time to waste. This budget resolution is the first step toward getting that done in one big, beautiful bill.

Mark Alford (r) [2023 file photo].

Did you read the bill, Mark? Just asking.

You have lost any and all credibility Congressman.

Never really had any.

Mark is just priming the pump to give us a tidbit and a huge tax break to the wealthy.

Protect Americans means PROTECT THE RICH! People aren’t that stupid Mark. They’re opening their eyes. Quit with the propaganda already and either do your job or stop posting as if you’re believing this crap. 💩

You mean taking away from the working class to give more to billionaires like Musk??!!!!! Lmbo

More 💩, smokescreen for billionaires. No one believes you but you’ll do it and pretend you are a friend to the common person.

Cool, you can start by resigning. Because you don’t know a fucking thing about the government. All you know is how to drink MAGA Kool-Aid…..

Who are you protecting from tax increases?
Not us. Just the big boys and the corporations.

He’s day trading with the ENTIRE stock market, bro.

Ahem. The outrageous tariffs are the biggest tax hike in history, paid for by American consumers. Businesses that depend on imports from China are cancelling their orders, laying off workers and closing their doors. Your uber rich buddies will barely notice the tax increase. Instead of lowering THEIR taxes, raise theirs and restore all the programs that help the rest of us.

I thought tackling the debt was our big concern.
How do tax breaks help with that?

Which Americans? The ones here in Missouri you actually represent or the ones who line your pockets?

Is this a great country, or what?

he doesn’t actually represent any here…

Don’t lower taxes on the ultra wealthy and billionaires dollar+ corporations and you won’t have to. It’s pretty simple.

you sir are a liar

Worried about taxes increases while praising tariffs that we pay as consumers. You are pathetic.

You are a JOKE!

Your tariffs are causing huge inflation! It’s time to make the ultra rich pay their fair share in taxes. You’re taxing the middle class into extinction. The trump administration is so clueless. Constant firing and rehiring and now a military parade for trumps birthday? What happened to balancing the budget? trump and people like you are destroy America! The world hates us. And what’s with wanting Greenland and Canada?!? That’s just silly. We’re now the land of lawlessness. It’s disgraced. I’m ashamed of my government. Least Christian admin ever. True Christian’s seek to help our fellow man, not look at them with disdain.

“Look, we have a responsibility to our nation to protect Americans from the largest tax hike in history.”
Correct. Now, all you have to do is vote down that sham of a budget resolution. See how easy that was? I’d tell you to go back to being a newscaster, but you weren’t good at that either. 🤡🤡🤡🤡

Mr. Alford, when’s the next Mondays with Mark, where you meet with your real constituents to answer their real questions and get to see their real response to you regurgitating Republican talking points?

I’m asking my representative if he can answer a simple question in public. Is that too much to ask?

Please don’t parrot Trump’s vocabulary. All it does is cement the divide between people. “Big, beautiful bill” does absolutely nothing but signal submission.
As for the “largest tax hike in history,” it’s too late. Trump already inflicted it.
[….]

You have a responsibility to the women in your district who got married and changed their names to their husbands name to vote against the SAVE Act. 69 million women in this country have changed their names after marriage and this act would prevent them from voting.

They consider that a feature, not a bug.

Not too popular are you?

We noticed that, too.

Quit posting garbage and lies. Worthless.

Isn’t this “largest ever tax increase” just the sunset provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act? Y’know, the bill of tax cuts that your party created and passed and that Trump signed into law during his first term?
Why do our miniscule cuts sunset, but not the cuts for the wealthy and corporations? Why does your party legislate so badly that you need to “save” us from your own bad legislation? And why are you trying to pass even more tax cuts for the wealthy with a bill that actually raises taxes for the rest of us? Why do you think the tariffs aren’t a tax increase? Why don’t you understand economics as well as a 19-year-old in Econ 101?

Lying to our faces. See you at the ballot box

Oh you mean taking care of the rich? Look at what’s right in front of you. Our economy is tanking thanks to this new leadership…..and you’re part of it. Hope you’re not getting too comfortable there cuz you’ll be coming home sooner than you think!

Saw your last town hall! Next time an empty chair will make more sense judging from this post!

Why do you continually lie? This bill isn’t protecting the little guy, only the filthy rich.

You just gave us the largest tax increase with tariffs dumbass

Congressman Mark Alford. that House Rep office must mean more to you than anything in the world, considering how you whore yourself out for it day after day after day.
You’ve shown it isn’t the office you care about at all, it’s the trappings. All that taxpayer money and campaign money you spend daily, on cigars, high dollar hotels, fine dining, those mileage reimbursement checks your write to your wife and yourself, all that “extra” money you spend, to the tune of millions a year. All that time you spend playing video star, building a portfolio you hope to parlay to the national talking head stage. That’s what matters. That’s the job to you, and nothing else. All I see here today with this post is more asinine gaslighting and your ability to use the buzz words the party has handed you this week, re: “big, beautiful bill.”
You lie, continually. You gaslight, continually. You spread hate and division, continually. The entire Republican Party abdicated the job they took an oath to do and there are those among you that are now openly confessing, “yep, that’s what we did.” “We handed our power to trump and it didn’t work out like we thought.” Grassley and other Senators, Bacon and others in the House. They have all said the Republicans in Congress abdicated their Constitution authority and gave it to trump, and that was a mistake.
Congressman Mark Alford you took what you should have defended and held dear, the powers the Constitution gives to the House, and gave it to a madman. You violated your oath of office. You shit on the Constitution of the United States of America. You’re as unfit to serve as your orange Russian. The 4th District deserves better.
#Resign #YouWipedYourAssWithTheConsitution #Traitor

Well Congressman Mark Alford wants SO badly to be important!
He’s a little boy playing in a big ocean.
He knows NOTHING about governing.
He just falls in line & steps to whatever his cult master tells him to.

I’d call you a sellout but that would imply you had integrity before you became a congressman

I’d call you a sellout but that would imply you had integrity before you became a congressman

Your pandering is just gross.
[….]

Now you’re even quoting orange Hitler.

The entire world is sick of you nazis.

Liar…still

Just shut up liar

You’re a fucking liar! bootlicking nazi!

Liar. Resign you complicit pandering hack.

Mark, I am so disappointed in your ability at boot licking. You lie to us almost every day.

Mark Alford (r) [2025 file photo]

And:

Congressman Mark Alford
[April 9, 2025]
President Trump has been CRYSTAL CLEAR.
NOW is the time to pass our House Republicans budget resolution and deliver the America-First Agenda.

And, more responses:

À Président manipulation of the stock market is criminal. Let’s find out who profited from this pause.

I would guess his billionaire cronies, family and Republicans in the House and Senate.

You’re complicit. Step the F down!

Tax the rich and start to fix America

If you think “voodoo economics” is viable policy, you’re an idiot.

the first market drop was the companies that are “#MAGA compliant” being warned about the tariffs, & selling off hours before the first crash.
Then the day traders, & pension funds, pull back, dropping it further.
Then the rich #MAGA guys buy while it’s low.
Pump, & Dump.
It’s the new GOP fundraising by fraud platform.

The guy who changes his mind about tariffs every few days is being crystal clear?

Trump is less than CRYSTAL CLEAR about much of anything. I wonder if anyone will notice?

Crystal clear? He can’t make up his mind on tariffs. Are they on? Are they off? What countries now?

President Trump is playing chess while you rub your two brain cells together screwing up a game of checkers.

“…Now, was that smart? Was it shrewd? Was it good tactics? Or was it stupid?”

“Don’t call me stupid.”

“Oh, right! To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people! I’ve known sheep that could outwit you. I’ve worn dresses with higher IQs. But you think you’re an intellectual, don’t you, ape?”

“Apes don’t read philosophy.”

“Yes they do, Otto. They just don’t understand it. Now let me correct you on a couple of things, OK? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not “Every man for himself.” And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up.”

Tossing the board up into the air is not “playing chess”.

Go crawl back into your hole, Alford. You couldn’t stay at a Town Hall with your constituents being upset about Trump. You ran, then bashed people later because they were upset.

Yep.

Can’t you just tell the billionaires that it’s God’s plan for their tax cuts to expire? You know, like how you talk to financially strapped Missourians who are losing their jobs and watching their retirement accounts disappear.

We see what you did there.

BREAKING: Mike Johnson just PULLED tonight’s expected vote on the GOP budget blueprint, for lack of votes.

Anyone who sides with a felon, sex offender, con man, and horrible business person is one as well. My mom told me when I was young, you are who you hang out with. Think about it! You have yet again failed in your duties. Time to resign.

I guess insider trading is legal now. Good to know. Didn’t Martha Stewart go to prison for that?
[….]

Crystal clear? What a joke. There isn’t one person in the whole world who knows what he’ll do tomorrow, and that includes him. He is truly a nut.

Trump as never been crystal clear in his life. He is a con man, a manipulator, a bankrupt businessman, draft dodger, sex predator and convicted Felon. He only ran for president to stay out of jail and to retaliate against those that he thinks did him wrong.

When screamers beg for the elites you can bet Congressman Mark Alford will be one of the loudest
He loves his elite benefactors but apparently a few in his Party don’t agree with adding massive deficits to reward his handlers

You are a traitor and will be judged to be on the wrong side of history. How dare you worship this rapist, felon and professional grifter. You are truly out of touch supporting the billionaires instead of the people.

So the tariff reversal ( again) does what for his agenda…. The tariff flip flops cause chaos and panic.

No. He’s a nut case.

JUMP then. Did he tell you how high?

Crystal clear as mud, congressman sycophant, toady. Tariffs on, tariffs off, tariffs on, tariffs off. Of course with a$$ kissing cowards like you parroting his lies, he doesn’t need to be clear. That’s why the stock market is on a roller coaster ride, numb nuts. Historians will look back on this last decade, and they will wonder how one party could EVER find so many supplicants willing to sell their souls.

Nothing about that tainted, rotting scum bag pustule is or ever has been crystal clear. You lie.

Mark Alford (r) [2024 file photo].

Projection

04 Friday Apr 2025

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Donald Trump, dumbass, Fascist pig, idiot, recession, right wingnut, stock market, Tariffs

This morning:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED – THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO!

7.27k ReTruths 36.6k Likes Apr 04, 2025, 8:25 AM

This afternoon:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

ONLY THE WEAK WILL FAIL!

1.71k ReTruths 6.73k Likes Apr 04, 2025, 2:35 PM

Dumbass.

Also, this afternoon:

Dumbass.

Previously:

“Liberation” (April 3, 2025)

−1,679.39 (- 3.98%) (April 3, 2025)

Your constituents are restless

03 Thursday Apr 2025

Posted by Michael Bersin in Congress, Mark Alford, social media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

4th Congressional District, clown, clown show, former newsreader, gaslighting, Mark Alford, missouri, recession, right wingnut, social media, stock market, sycophant, Tariffs, that ridiculous hat, Trump sycophant

It’s a mystery. Not.

Mark Alford (r) [2023 file photo].

This afternoon:

Congressman Mark Alford
[April 3, 2025]
Things are escalating. The U.S. doesn’t need to be in the middle.
Zelensky needs to live up to the Mineral Rights Deal, and he must define what victory looks like. [….]

Anything else going on? Just asking.

Some of the responses:

Dude, I like you, but I think you’re off on this one, as well as Trump. That mineral deal is objectively not good for Ukraine, it would see the country stripped of its resources and still left vulnerable to future Russian attacks because it doesn’t include any kind of security guarantees. You can see why someone would be hesitant to sign on this, right?

Why do you support Putin? Because Traitor Trump does, and you blindly follow him?

“Make America Great Again” – in Russian.

extortion is not a good look either

Because it’s extortion?

It’s worse than extortion because Ukraine gets virtually nothing in return. They lose resources that are needed now by its people now more than ever and still gets no form of protection from Russia.

What Victory Looks Like! Russia leaves Ukraine! That’s what victory looks like!

right. Like he hasn’t said that a million fuckin times now. This war could end tomorrow, Russia doesn’t want peace it wants land.

And once Putin takes Ukraine, Moldova is next, then Poland, and then a boots on the ground European ground war, if not WWIII.

Wow comparing this to Vietnam is wild and proves how uneducated Congressman Mark Alford is on his social studies

If Russia invaded the United States what would victory look like?
I’ll give you a hint. It would start with every last one of their soldiers retreating off our soil.
Stand with our allies. Stand for democracy.

Alford does not stand with democracy, he has made that plain. He has shown again and again he stands with Putin.

Mr. Alford, when’s the next Mondays with Mark, where you meet with your real constituents to answer their real questions and get to see their real response to you regurgitating Republican talking points? Mr. Alford, when’s the next Mondays with Mark, where you meet with your real constituents to answer their real questions and get to see their real response to you regurgitating Republican talking points?

I just love when our country extorts our allies to get help that other allies have willfully granted us because….that’s what allies do and all.
But I guess when some on our ‘team’ actually want the bad guys to win, it makes more sense.

There is one that is a long time enemy of our country and other Democratic nations who was the aggressor.
I think it’s safe to call Putin a bad guy…and Trump has made himself known as Putin’s lap dog quite clearly.
You don’t like Zlenskyy, that’s fine – but he didn’t invade another country…and his country is still supposedly our ‘ally’. Russia is not.

And you need to live up to your promise to always kiss Der Fuhrers Ass!

We want Ukraine to be free. Do not blackmail Ukraine.

We also don’t want our economy wrecked with tariff taxes on us. Damage of DonOld’s own making

Measles and tariffs, what century is it?

do you blindly just regurgitate Russian propaganda? Russia started this when they invaded Crimea.

You are deflecting away from the stock market crash, you feckless coward.

Putin already rejected the Trump** surrender of Ukraine in its entirety.
Putin clearly wants it all, and is getting away with ZERO tariffs!
Why no tariffs?

Nothing like the republican party going full nazi mode. With little people like you throwing a hissy fit. We, the US, has ZERO right to extract minerals or anything else from another country in exchange for prote lion against another country bombing them into oblivion.

Why did Fox News remove the stock market ticker from the show?
Hmmmm…because it’s THAT bad & they are an ENTERTAINMENT source, not a “news” source!

Did you learn about how to deal with this before you dropped out of college or during one of the commercial breaks on a cooking segment at Fox 4? Shut up and stay out of the way, broadcaster caucus idiot.

Keeping Putin happy that’s the company Line

You should be more worried about our our 401ks and your seat in Congress.

He has clearly defined what victory looks like. Have you been tapped by Russia? Ffs, all he wants is Russia out of his country. Thats it.

401k today?

This is more your style Alford. Stick to your pathetic Almost Friday clown show crap. You are not qualified for anything more

Congressman Mark Alford The DOW closed near the low of the day today, losing 4% and down 1700 points. American’s holding retirement accounts lost hundreds of billions of dollars today. You and your orange Russian are responsbile for 100% of it. I know you don’t have a clue about trading, you know absolutely nothing about stocks or the stock markets, and the term “DOW theory” means zilch to you, but FYI: closing at or near the low of the day is not good at all. Look out below …
#Resign #UnfitToServe #RatfuckerPolitician

Congressman Mark Alford. STFU and sit down, trump clown. You are so vastly UNQUALIFIED to make any comments about Ukraine there are no words. Go home and press your cheap suit. You have no business being in DC, you are completely unfit to serve.

Mark Alford (r) [2024 file photo].

Previously:

This year’s bad poetry contest winner (April 2, 2025)

“Liberation” (April 3, 2025)

−1,679.39 (- 3.98%) (April 3, 2025)

“Liberation”

03 Thursday Apr 2025

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Donald Trump, idiot, recession, stock market, Tariffs

Donald Trump (r) did this.

Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…

Unemployment – April 2020

08 Friday May 2020

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#TrumpPandemic, Bureau of Labor Statistics, depression, Donald Trump, recession, unemployment

It’s going to get worse.

This morning the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its April 2020 Employment Situation Summary:

Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 20.5 million in April, and the unemployment rate rose to 14.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The changes in these measures reflect the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it. Employment fell sharply in all major industry sectors, with particularly heavy job losses in leisure and hospitality.

[….]

In April, the unemployment rate increased by 10.3 percentage points to 14.7 percent. This is the highest rate and the largest over-the-month increase in the history of the series (seasonally adjusted data are available back to January 1948). The number of unemployed persons rose by 15.9 million to 23.1 million in April. The sharp increases in these measures reflect the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it…

[….]

In April, unemployment rates rose sharply among all major worker groups. The rate was 13.0 percent for adult men, 15.5 percent for adult women, 31.9 percent for teenagers, 14.2 percent for Whites, 16.7 percent for Blacks, 14.5 percent for Asians, and 18.9 percent for Hispanics. The rates for all of these groups, with the exception of Blacks, represent record highs for their respective series.

[….]

Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization

U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate) – [April 2020] 14.7%

U-6 Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force – [April 2020] 22.8%

Thanks for nothing, Donald.

Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…

Roy Blunt asks us to reward his failure

07 Saturday Aug 2010

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

GOP obsructionism, missouri, Obstructionism, recession, recovery, Roy Blunt, stimulus

Apropos of the Republican obstructionism which is on the verge of driving the economy into a double-dip recession, Matt Iglesias writes:

… the way the American political system works, the minority party that prevented the majority from addressing the crisis will accrue massive political benefits as a result of the collapse.

Conservatives won’t admit it today, but what we’re looking at is a major breakdown of the logic of the American political system.

What he is talking about is the fact that Republicans, who during the Bush years drove the economy pell-mell off a cliff, have, as an electoral strategy, steadfastly worked to ensure that Rush Limbaugh gets his wish that the President fail – and if that sinks the economy for the next decade, well, the devil take the hindmost. They have fought everything that we know, based on historical precedent, to be sound economic policy, and they succeeded in hobbling the initial stimulus by paring it to half of what it should have been.

The main GOP tool for wreaking self-righteous havoc: like the liar screaming fire in a crowded theater, they rampage through the media screaming something to the effect that the deficit is coming and it’s going to eat your children – after running up record deficits under every Republican president since Reagan. They’ve managed to bamboozle economically ignorant Americans who actually believe cable news sound-bites offering simple formulas that distort the complex relationship between short-term stimulative spending and long-term debt.

Nor are GOPers one-trick ponies; they have one more especially potent tool: go on the offensive and lie like a dog. Deny the demonstrable fact that even a weak stimulus moved us toward recovery – which might mean that a bigger stimulus could spur a bigger recovery.  Deny that the growth of the national debt, as Ezra Kleiln points out, reflects “a massive drop in revenues, not $4 trillion in spending over the past two years… .”

You want an example? I give you Roy Blunt trotting out, rather lackadaisically, I admit, the GOP two-pronged tool box, the lazy pol’s substitute for a campaign strategy, but one that he clearly expects reward him with a Senate seat:

Paul Krugman tells us that our political culture is sick:

… a culture that rewards hypocrisy and irresponsibility rather than serious efforts to solve America’s problems. And blame the filibuster, under which 41 senators can make the country ungovernable, if they choose – and they have so chosen.

My question: why would anyone want to send one more irresponsible hypocrite like Roy Blunt to the senate where he gets to help wield the filibuster for the benefit of the cronies and campaign contributors whose welfare kept him so busy in the House?  Why should we reward him for failure in the past just because he promises to do the same thing in the future?

Time for a big piece of humble pie

30 Saturday Jan 2010

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Blaine Luktemeyer, Economic Growth, missouri, recession, republicans, Roy Blunt, Todd Akin

Missouri’s Republican pols have been vociferous in condemning the stimulus package enacted last spring. From quibbling about the numbers of jobs saved, to viciously attacking the program because all our problems have not gone away a few scant months after our economy nearly bottomed out, their rhetoric has been uniformly shrill and accusing. For instance, according to Todd Akin, the stimulus was a “tragic waste of taxpayer money,” a sentiment echoed by Blaine Luetkemeyer who declared the “so-called stimulus package” to be a “catastrophic failure.” For Roy Blunt, the stimulus was an “absolute outrage.”

You get the idea – I could produce dozens of such quotes – pick your Republican and I can promise he or she put some ugly words out there about the stimulus – although, it does bear noting that Blunt and Lutekemeyer did manage to hold their tongues when they were hustling to take credit for stimulus awards to their districts – but that’s another matter altogether.

It is, however, just this excess of partisan bile that made it all the sweeter when we learned today, that the U.S. economy grew during the last quarter at the highest rate in six years, a result that many are attributing directly or indirectly to the stimulus effects:

This broad-based rise in GDP was surely fueled in part by the tax cuts and investment spending in the Recovery Act and other rescue actions, but some appears to be the result of private sector demand returning

According to Mark Zandi, a former economic advisor to John McCain, the “stimulus was key to the 4th quarter.”

Hard times are not gone yet – but things are definitely looking up.  As the President observed after noting that the economy had contracted 6.4% in the first three months of last year:

You’ve seen a 12 percent reversal in the course of (last) year. This turnaround is the biggest in three decades, and it didn’t happen by accident

So when do you expect that we will hear the likes of Akin, Luetkemeyer and Blunt admit that they were wrong?  And, even more to the point, when will Missourians tell them and the rest of their gang that trash talk and tantrums just won’t do it anymore – we need them to get on the bandwagon instead of trying to overturn it.

Fun With Graphs – Missouri Recession Edition

10 Tuesday Feb 2009

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

job losses, missouri, recession

This graph has been making the rounds over the last week:

The graph shows job losses from peak payroll for the last couple of recessions, plus this one, measured over the months it took to recover back to that peak. I thought it might be interesting to look at how Missouri has fared in past recessions and is faring now:

Job Loss Graph

The blue line is the 1980 recession. Job losses in Missouri began in January of 1981 and did not return to the previous peak until December of 1983. Job losses bottomed out at 42,498 below peak 17 months after Missouri began shedding jobs.

The red line is the 1990 recession. Job losses in Missouri began in January of 1990 and did not return to the previous peak until March of 1991. Job losses bottomed out at 26,057 below peak, 12 months after Missouri began shedding jobs.

The yellow line is the 2000 recession. Missouri job losses began in December 2000 and did not get back to that level until November 2006. The job picture didn’t begin to brighten until payrolls reached a low of 67,173 below peak, 30 months after Missouri began shedding jobs.

The BLS doesn’t have accurate numbers yet for our current job picture, represented here by the green line, but the trend is still pretty stark. We began losing jobs in March 2007, and we’re still losing them at an increasing clip.  The preliminary December 2008 numbers are 86,576 jobs below payroll peak, and it’s certain that we’ve lost a lot of jobs since December.

Now, these periods of job loss aren’t directly comparable, because Missouri’s population has increased and correspondingly, so has the workforce. So when I have time, I’ll chart the losses as a percentage of Missouri’s labor pool.

…The charts were plotted using BLS data found here.

It's the economy, stupid!

27 Wednesday Aug 2008

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

economy, recession

It’s no secret that worries about the economy are foremost in voters’ minds.

In Missouri (Public Policy Polling) (pdf):

…Q10 I am going to name 7 issues. Which of these is most important to you? The War in Iraq, education, the economy and jobs, taxes, moral or family values, health care, or immigration…

War in Iraq – 15%

Education – 7%

Economy and Jobs – 47%

Taxes – 4%

Moral and Family Values – 13%

Health Care – 8%

Immigration – 5%

Other – 1%

[emphasis added]

The republicans don’t do very well at this economy stuff. Just ask folks filling up at the gas station, “How’s that $4.00 a gallon workin’ out for ya?” (Brief interruption: Okay, it’s now under $3.50 a gallon in my area. The next question is, “Gee, how did they get that off shore oil drilling into production that fast?” They didn’t. Can you say, “unregulated greed and speculation.”)

Here’s a site that has a lot of historical information about republican administrations, Democratic administrations, and how the American economy has fared under each:

Presidential Economic Data

Democrats and the economy

   * Eight of the last nine recessions have been under Republican presidents

   * Democratic presidents create twice as many jobs per year as Republican presidents.

   * Republican presidents’ deficits are three times higher than Democrats’ and twice as high as a percent of GDP.

   * The economy grows 41% faster under Democratic presidents.

   * Businesses invest three times as much under Democratic presidents.

The economy grows 41% faster under Democratic presidents.

   Average GDP growth per year under Democratic Presidents: 4.05%

   Average GDP growth per year under Republican Presidents: 2.88%

   Average GDP growth under the Bush II Administration: 2.51%

Businesses invest three times as much under Democratic presidents.

   Average growth per year under Democratic Presidents: 7.08%

  Average growth per year under Republican Presidents: 2.94%

  Average growth under the Bush II Administration: 1.53%

There’s plenty more where that came from…

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