Eric Boehlert: Everything the press said about the economy was wrong [View all]

[babylonsister]

https://pressrun.media/p/everything-the-press-said-about-the

Everything the press said about the economy was wrong
It's surging

Eric Boehlert
3 hr ago

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The specifics:

• The government dramatically undercounted the number of new jobs from June through September, so we now know an additional 626,000 jobs were created those months, blowing away the idea of a stymied hiring pattern nationwide. Remember the “disappointing” jobs report from August, with 235,000 jobs? It was actually 483,000 new positions. It turns out there’s been a jobs explosion this entire year, and all indications are the trend will continue into 2022.

• Goldman Sachs predicts by the end of next year the U.S. unemployment rate will drop to a 50-year low, thanks to a "red-hot demand for workers.” Under Trump, the rate peaked at nearly 15 percent.

• Retail sales surged 1.7 percent in the month of October, as consumers flocked online and into stores, splurging on electronics and home-improvement projects. American consumers spent $638 billion in October, a 16 percent increase from last year.

• JP Morgan upgraded its growth expectations for the economy, raising its forecast for the U.S. gross domestic product to climb to 5 percent in the fourth quarter.

• Biden’s pandemic stimulus plan has worked: “Households are sitting on a collective $2.5 trillion in savings built up during the pandemic,” the New York Times reports.

It’s a royal flush of economic good news.

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The press wasn’t holding up a mirror to the U.S. economy. The press painted its own picture. Desperate for a dramatic angle to lure consumers back to TV news and websites, and weirdly anxious to bury Biden, the Beltway media have gone all in on the Doomsday narrative. Remember that corporate media owners benefit from tax breaks when Republicans are in office.

The panicked tale was never true. In recent days, the new data points paint a clearer picture of the economy — it’s a surging one that’s powering through a stunning pandemic recovery and stands poised to blast off in 2022. An unemployment rate all the way down to 3.5 percent? A stock market sitting at the once-unthinkable 45,000 mark? Both are entirely possible in the next calendar year.

Today’s press coverage suggests the economy is an albatross around Biden’s political neck. In reality, it’s booming.