Posted on 03/30/2018 7:01:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Tax reform may not be generating the drumbeat of positive headlines that it once was, but the progress and successes it has created continue to pile up. Walgreens has affirmed a $100 million investment in raising employees' wages thanks to the GOP-passed law, as McDonald's unveils new education benefits, also to the tune of nine figures, for its workers. Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan is touting the decision of a smaller Maryland-based company that he visited last fall to offer tax reform bonuses of up to $1,000. More than four million US workers have received such bonuses from their employers thus far, in addition to the rollout of other enhanced worker benefits and major investments from coast to coast. Oh, and the overwhelming majority of all taxpayers are receiving a tax cut because of the law, much to the surprise of many who bought into critics' false rhetoric and absurd predictions. Tax reform has become popular because Americans' realities have far exceeded Democratic doomsaying. Economist Brian Riedl underscores this disconnect:
My latest piece: If the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was so bad, why did critics feel the need to lie and misrepresent it so badly? https://t.co/1k4ZKNgqNu— Brian Riedl (@Brian_Riedl) March 29, 2018
[The Left's] torrent of propaganda is partly why the tax bill was so unpopular as it was being debated: At the time of passage, just 37 percent of Americans supported the cuts, versus 57 percent opposed. How could a tax cut be less popular than previous tax increases? Because by a 2-to-1 ratio, Americans believed their taxes were going to go up as a result of the bill. But Republicans enacted the bill anyway and the dishonest spin got steamrolled by reality. Millions of Americans received modest raises and bonuses that were attributed to the TCJA. Online calculators showed families that—surprise!—their taxes were falling, not rising. Today a slight majority of Americans support the TCJA. And the law enjoys more than 75 percent support from those who expect to personally benefit, which means its overall popularity should grow as the benefits are more broadly realized.
Meanwhile, as conservatives argued would happen, the economy is growing and thriving. A somewhat underwhelming Q4 GDP estimate has been revised upward, and on the jobs front, it's hard to argue with these results:
The rate of layoffs in the U.S. fell again in late March and dropped to the lowest level since 1973. Initial U.S. jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 215,000 in the seven days ended March 24, the government said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast claims to total 230,000. The more stable monthly average of claims dipped by 500 to 224,500...The revisions erased the previous low in jobless claims, a reading of 210,000 last month that would have been the lowest since 1969. But no matter. Layoffs in the U.S. is extremely low, as reflected by a 4.1% unemployment rate that is the smallest in 17 years...The labor market is so strong that it’s even drawing back in people who’ve been out of the workforce for years. And it doesn’t show any sign of letting up. The economy added 313,000 new jobs in February and economists predict another solid gain of around 200,000 in March.
What a paragraph. Feel free to re-read it, and to peruse the February jobs report in anticipation of tomorrow. I should add that it's undoubtedly true that strong momentum is not guaranteed to continue, especially if foolish policies throw a wet blanket onto the economy, or if Democrats regain power and start to roll back the progress every last one of them opposed. Yes, Republicans appear to be gaining the 2018 generic ballot, with another new data point confirming that trend. But as I've argued, there are a lot of factors cutting against the GOP this year, and the scatterplot of actual electoral results in the Trump era cannot be wished away. That said, there's a reason why the president's popularity on the economy far outstrips his personal favorability. The country is doing well, and he and his party deserve a good amount of the credit. Whether those outcomes and the resulting optimism end up benefitting them at the polls this fall remains to be seen.
“Short-Lived” will be the new mainstream media catch phrase for any good news.
See here:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3643630/posts
(For leaving...)
Try my link. You’ll be surprised.
MSM news-——————>Crickets.
Next get rid of ALL welfare and see what happens! Might have to wait until he’s reelected. Could start with corporate welfare beforehand.
Even liberals have to admit this is very impressive. What is that, a 50 year low???
This gives Trump a LOT of political leverage.
Haha!
Yawn. Hypocrites ridicule statistics here then pile onto the statistics when they serve a purpose.
Without the underlying instabilities - such as exhausted benefits, multiple part-time jobs, inability to source work in an area of education, profession or expertise - these stats have as much integrity as the polls which showed Hillary cruising to a win.
I live in a state claiming to have one of the lowest unemployment rates yet in my job I continually experience people who are unable to tolerate any change in their monthly budget whatsoever. My wife cannot find full-time work in her area of expertise. Absent government work or most anything in the medical fields, this rings true almost across the board in every conversation. Job stability is no longer a foregone conclusion: Nomadic employment is the rule not for qualified workers, but for workers seeking to regain the benefits once afforded under an economy long-gone. Very few people I know would assert that they are far-removed from what might be termed “desperation” with even a slight impact upon their employment or expenses.
The reality is that the damage from the past 16-30 years will take a generation or more to correct and, right now...we are on the precipice of disaster awaiting a single event to trigger an inevitable chain of events. Those in government know this all-too-well.
Why do FReepers project ignorance so frequently for a rush of feel-good?
What State/City do you live in?
“Without the underlying instabilities - such as exhausted benefits, multiple part-time jobs...”
I hesitate to get too excited also for the reasons you listed. Good post but won’t be too popular. President Trump and team are trying their very best to help this country. They need our prayers daily.
Hey Obama. You didn’t build that!
Sandwiched in between on the left coast...
...literally being squeezed to death now making escape plans to an unknown destination due to impending “felon by fiat” designation from impending legislation from an initiative petition, IP43...
I agree. Given my knowledge of Edward Bernays and decades of propaganda proceeding right into this year on ‘collusion’...I cannot swallow such news nor acknowledge short-term gains.
However, I am uplifted at the efforts to fix decades of wealth-redistribution (trade). Again, something which will take a generation or more to reverse the damage ASSUMING Trump’s work is not undermined by future POS serving progressives.
You can’t tell much from unemployment claims.
Probably 187% of white males have exhausted their unemployment and can’t make any new claims.
Well, of course I don’t know the percentage, but a lot of guys used up their unemployment and dropped off the edge of the world.
Now it remains to be seen if the Goebbelsmedia can convince the Non-Believers that they have been screwed by the tax cuts as it has successfully done.
That’s all they got? Pathetic.
While I can say that my customers are busier and have called it the “Trump Bump”, and I believe them, the unemployment stat methodology is so bogus as to be criminal. My statistics classes in 1974 would have failed anyone who claimed such methodology. Ditto for CPI and GDP.
We can be positive and realistic. But realize the level of the feel good numbers is serious BS.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.