I & I Editorial BoardAll last year, we were treated to a steady stream of stories about the “huge” and “baffling” gap between the public’s negative views about the economy and its “actual performance.”
Our favorite “economist” Paul Krugman was apoplectic. “Why are so many Americans still telling pollsters that the economy is in bad shape” when “it’s hard to overstate just how good recent economic numbers have been.”
Last week, the government issued two reports that explain why. And the reason is simple. The experts were wrong. The public was right.
On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after a string of glaring mistakes in its jobs report, announced the mother of all screw-ups.
In its preliminary “benchmark” revision, the BLS admitted that almost 1 million jobs that it claimed to have been created from April 2024 through March 2025 didn’t actually exist.
This, mind you, is on top of all those monthly revisions that cut back on the number of jobs created each month. And it comes one year after the BLS made a huge downward “benchmark” revision for the year prior.
The latest downgrade is so massive that even CNN was forced to admit that it amounts to “a stain on Joe Biden’s legacy.”
The revisions are essentially “rewriting history,” Deutsche Bank senior U.S. economist Brett Ryan told CNN.
Except, that’s not entirely true. The only history being rewritten is the one the mainstream media and corrupt “economists” like Krugman were peddling.
All last year, for example, we were pointing out that the BLS was continually exaggerating job gains.
This revision also demolishes claims that Trump was handed a booming economy that he is now wrecking.
As CNN put it: “Trump was dealt worse cards to begin with than previously known, which means the recently reported decline in hiring – and in some sectors, layoffs – can be viewed in part as a continuation of where things left off when Biden left the White House in January.”
That’s not all. Also on Tuesday, the Census Bureau released its report on median household income, which shows a meager increase of $1,040 in 2024 after adjusting for inflation – which is less than the margin of error!
Real median income for blacks fell $2,060. Income for Midwestern families and those living outside cities also declined. Those without a high school diploma saw incomes drop by nearly 2% in 2024.
The Biden economy was, however, good for one group of people. Household income for non-citizens went up more than 11% in 2024.
The Census report also shows that real household income was essentially unchanged from the year before the COVID panic. It was $83,260 in 2019, and $83,730 in 2024.
In other words, most Americans were treading water against Bidenflation. Job growth was anemic, not historic. And Trump inherited a weak economy – one made weak by Biden’s combination of massive inflationary spending, out-of-control regulations, and high taxes.
The American people knew it. And they knew who to blame. Which is why they put Donald Trump back in the White House.
Whether Trump will deliver on his promise to fix the mess Joe Biden left him remains to be seen. But at least we can now all agree that the Biden economy was anything but “glorious.”
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Unleash Prosperity
It seems the Bureau of Labor Statistics was just another branch of the government enlisted into using the power of the government to gaslight the American people. The near total control of every department of government has become dominated by the Democratic party, and worse those government employees went all in on the progressive agenda that essentially said the american people don’t know whats good for them so we, the enlightened and wise, will lead them. And if we have to fake the numbers, suppress free speech, and intimidate the average citizen, then that’s what must be done.
I believe Obama opened this door when the IRS refused conservative non-profits tax free status to hinder the opposition. When the head of the IRS pleaded the 5th and then the DOJ refused to investigate it was so blatantly clear the fix was in.
Lets not ever get to the 50+ “Intelligence officals” who signed a letter claiming Hunter Biden’s laptop was a Russian fake, or the FBI who buried it and would have gotten away with it if the repair man hadn’t handed a copy of the hard drive to they NY Post.
And it goes on and on and on . . .
I still don’t get how the Fed can make interest rate decisions based on the jobs data just 3 days before that data is declared corrupt. Is the Fed so stupid it relies on the incompetent BLS for such an important decision, one affected every American and much of the world? Did no one at the Fed think to touch base with BLS to confirm that the data wasn’t about to be adjusted? Surely, BLS knew more than 3 days before releasing the adjustment that there was a mistake.
I don’t think BLS was “wrong”, I think they lied on purpose. They lied first to help Biden and they continued the lies to help Harris.
“…even CNN was forced to admit that it amounts to “a stain on Joe Biden’s legacy.”
Not to worry. I am sure no one will notice. Like dripping paint on an old drop cloth. Biden’s “legacy” seems to be all stains.
When is the last time Krugman was right about anything?
“Told ya so”, while correct, isn’t very satisfying, and doesn’t change the fact that democrats DESTROY the economy and society….every single time. And yet, as a nation, we never learn, and continue to allow them in positions of authority and influence.
Krugman has been wrong for years. I could never understand why or how he was given so much credit or even taken seriously, since so often wrong. The same may be said for John Kenneth Galbraith who in my opinion was wrong on most things beginning with his economic premise. He was also an arrogant sort of man and acted out socially with a rudeness, and a false superiority and condescension. He seemed to love flaunting his sense of self importance with the smugness only a superficial snob could do and thought others could not see through his act. Trouble was he convinced many at Harvard. The public has always known best!
Just the spoon fed talking points from congress’ owners, who are an “overseas” meat packing consortium…
Guess what I don’t need the BLS or the so called experts to tell me that the economy was in the tank during the previous administration by committee was in the tank. I can’t stand that people have to be told what to think when you see it with your own eyes and your own pocketbook.
I don’t know if the Biden Administration, the Bureau of Labor Stats or Jerome Powell(Chairmen of the Fed) were incompetent, corrupt or in the sway or the Biden Political Camp. Or maybe all three.
The reason I make this statement is because Powell reduced interest rates when Labor was higher than the present rates. Coincidentally, this happened a little before the 2024 election and could have influenced any number of voters.
The point is that maybe Powell knew something, ie the real labor statistics which weren’t released!
It is shameful that our Government (at least the Biden Administration) inflames and makes credible such a conspiratorial accusation.
It also, by its implication, makes credible any good news that should have been reported as bad news that we had from the Biden Administration.
It also makes credible the “urban legend?” of the bloated Swamp bureaucracy that we have in Washington.