Pelosi’s new talking point: record low unemployment is meaningless

By Robert Laurie —— Bio and Archives June 4, 2018

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Friday’s jobs report has been met with virtually universal praise. The demographic breakdowns are consistently strong, matching or exceeding the high-water marks set prior to the collapse in 2000, While African-American, Hispanic, and Asian unemployment rates are at their lowest recorded levels ever. A huge swath of the manufacturing jobs Obama told us were “not coming back” have come back, and all signs indicate that the growth will continue.

We’ve come a long way since Paul Krugman, writing in the New York Times after the election, said the Trump presidency would bring a “global recession, with no end in sight”...https://t.co/IbZrhK4vZB

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) June 3, 2018

You’ll notice, however, that I mentioned the praise was “virtually” universal. That’s because, while plummeting joblessness and soaring employment may be good for America, it’s absolutely terrible news for Democrats. Their party is built on fear, exploitation, and division – all things that don’t work when people are happy with their economic situation. So Nancy Pelosi, the left’s very own angel of death, released a statement to remind people that having a job is pretty much meaningless. Yes, really. Her statement reads:

“May’s jobs report shows that strong employment numbers mean little to the families hit with soaring new costs under the Republicans’ watch. “Republicans’ cruel, cynical health care sabotage campaign is already spiking families’ premiums by double digits and pushing millions off their coverage, according to the nonpartisan CBO. Big Pharma continues to hoard the benefits of the GOP tax scam, using their handouts to further enrich executives and shareholders instead of lowering prescription drug costs for seniors and sick kids. At the same time, the President’s reckless policies are exploding gas prices, wiping out the few meager gains that some families should have received from the GOP tax scam, as wages remain stagnant. “From day one, the White House and Republicans in Congress have sold out working and middle class families to further enrich the wealthy and big corporations shipping jobs overseas. Thanks to the massive windfall of the GOP tax scam, Wall Street and wealthy corporations are on track to spend $1 trillion on dividends and stock buybacks while simultaneously announcing tens of thousands of layoffs and shipping jobs overseas and refusing to raise workers’ wages.

Just….wow. There’s so much stale rhetoric there that it’s hard to know where to start. Nancy’s problem, aside from her generally out-of-touch nature and rapidly diminishing verbal skills, is that the news is positively chock-full of reports that contradict virtually everything she’s saying. Consumer confidence is at its highest point in almost 20 years, major corporations have been handing out bonuses all over the employment spectrum, bellwether companies like Walmart and Costco have announced major pay increases, young and unskilled workers are enjoying a huge uptick in hiring, and – despite Pelosi’s dreary eulogy for the middle class – people know it. They’re also giving Republicans the credit. The Real Clear Politics average now puts President Trump’s handling of the economy at just over 50%. …And that’s the real problem with the jobs report. As Democrats head into the 2018 Midterms, they desperately need public dissatisfaction to fuel their supposed blue wave. As the saying goes, people vote with their wallets. If the GOP’s handling of the economy is receiving high marks, Dems are going to be hard pressed to fuel the turnout they need to take back the House. That means no “Speaker Pelosi” and, despite what she may say, the speakership is something she covets like Gollum covets the Ring. You can expect to see a lot more of this from the left, and you can expect it to sound increasingly tone-deaf as things continue to improve.