Americans Are Poorer: The United States Misery Index Rises Again
I frequently receive comments about the strength of the United States economy and the unfairness of perceiving things as less than stellar. Is it really the “strongest economy ever”? It’s evident that it’s far from being the “strongest economy ever.”
The United States unemployment rate has risen to 4.1%, the highest in three years, which is also significantly higher than the level seen in 2019. In June, a 70,000 increase in government jobs boosted payroll employment by 206,000. One-third of job creation is public sector jobs paid with more debt. Both the employment-to-population ratio and the labor force participation ratio are below the pre-pandemic level, and immigrants account for all the labor force growth since the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Ned Davis Research.
Inflation remains persistent and citizens have lost more than 24% of their purchasing power since 2019, with a 0.6% negative real wage growth in the January 2021–June 2024 period. Real wage growth in 2024 is rising only 0.8% year-on-year.
This shows why the United States Misery Index is rising to 7.4% in June from 6.8% in January. The Misery Index, which measures unemployment and inflation, bottomed out at 68% in 2023 and has been worsening since then. Furthermore, the index is far away from the pre-pandemic level of 5.4%.
All these measures allow us to understand why Americans are negative about the economy. Despite messages of redistribution, social policies, and equality, the average citizen is poorer, and only the wealthy have been able to improve their position and navigate high rates and inflation thanks to investments in the stock market. While this shouldn’t come as a surprise, it’s important to remember. There is nothing social about increasing debt, deficit spending, and taxes.
The problem for most Americans is that it is increasingly difficult to make ends meet despite record government spending, or because of its negative impact on inflation and taxes.
There is a reason why we should be worried about rising discontent and impoverishment. The placebo effect of government spending on GDP is declining. Real gross domestic income (GDI) increased by 1.3 percent in the first quarter, a downward revision of 0.2 percentage points from the previous estimate and a market slowdown. The average of real GDP and real GDI, a supplemental measure of U.S. economic activity that equally weights GDP and GDI, increased by 1.4 percent in the first quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
If we look forward, Americans are going to have to choose between two options: further impoverishment with Keynesian policies or making a dramatic pro-growth turn where policy is targeted at improving disposable income, increasing investment, and strengthening productivity and real economic growth.
We know that it will be impossible to cut the current deficit with tax hikes. There is no revenue measure that will generate two trillion U.S. dollars per year, and it is impossible to increase taxes further without punishing investment. The problem in the United States is mandatory spending, as the CBO expects outlays to reach 24.9% of GDP in 2036, while revenues will reach a record but insufficient 18%. If the Federal Reserve continues to monetize debt, Americans will suffer from the inflation impact as well as the rising cost of housing. The U.S. dollar’s purchasing power will continue to decline. However, it is easier to create two trillion U.S. dollars of productive GDI than to tax two additional trillion dollars per year out of the existing fiscal base.
Yes, the only solution for the United States is pro-growth, pro-business policies that defend the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar. So-called social policies have only made everyone poorer and hurt the middle class.
Economist Warns Warren Buffett Deliberately Triggered Stock Market Crash— Major Collapse Imminent
Haywire Trading Platforms Sabotaged “Black Monday” Retail Dip Buyers
With Monday’s global market sell-off triggered by a panic in Japan, investors logged into their stock trading platforms to buy (or sell) the dip through institutions like Charles Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, Vanguard, E-Trade, and Wells Fargo to buy the dip.
But whether these retail traders were planning on panic selling or scooping up discounted stocks, outages at many of these major brokerages sabotaged their plans. However, one is left wondering if the actual goal was to prevent waves of retail selling that would cause stocks to dump even more dramatically.
?#BREAKING: Multiple brokerages, including Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, TD Ameritrade, E-Trade, UPS, CenturyLink, and Interactive Brokers, are currently down and reporting errors amid market crashes. pic.twitter.com/H2htHnXynT
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) August 5, 2024
Of course, big-time traders, hedge funds, and others in the “in-club” can still buy and sell, since they don’t rely on these consumer-facing brokerage platforms. But the average Joe and Jane investor were robbed of a dip-buying opportunity by their own financial institutions amidst the market chaos.
NASDAQ 5-Day Chart
Whether or not “buying the dip” is even a good idea is open to question, in this case. JPMorgan’s own trading desk has advised against it. The wisdom of the advice partly depends on whether or not the Fed will enact an emergency rate cut, as many hope. But with gold down along with stocks, Peter Schiff thinks the market isn’t expecting a sudden “rescue stimulus” from the central bank. As he observed on Twitter/X:
“#Gold is down over $80. This is actually a bearish sign for the markets, which have crashed to new morning lows, with the Dow off over 3% and the #NASDAQ down more than 6%. Gold going down suggests markets don’t expect the #Fed to come to the rescue with an emergency rate cut.”
That said, gold began to recover slightly from its lows earlier on Monday, when the tweet was posted:
Gold vs. USD, 5-Day Chart
Whether stock traders should be long or short, gold tells the real story of what the market expects to happen. But with circuit breakers ready to shut down trading and major retail platforms seemingly going down at the most opportune (or inopportune) times, it doesn’t matter: the little guy on Main Street with stock exposure in their portfolio can’t act on market moves. That, apparently, is a privilege reserved for Wall Street.
If these brokerages weren’t locking out their own users, would stocks crash even harder under the weight of panic sellers rushing to dump their holdings en masse? With so many distortions, dirty tricks, fake data, and other forms of central planning tomfoolery, we’re left only with educated speculation of what would actually happen if markets operated freely.
After all, part of the arrogance-fueled goal of central planning is to prevent the existence of free markets by any means necessary — to replace economic mother nature with the “wisdom” of bureaucrats and academics.
Economist Warns Warren Buffett Deliberately Triggered Stock Market Crash— Major Collapse Imminent
WATCH: CNN Attacks JD Vance’s Military Career Defending Tim Walz Against Stolen Valor Claims — HE RESPONDS
Donald Trump running mate JD Vance shot back at CNN after a correspondent disparaged his military service while defending Democrat VP pick Tim Walz from stolen valor and desertion claims.
During a CNN segment Thursday, reporter Brianna Keilar portrayed Vance as an “imperfect messenger” to be questioning Walz’s troop abandonment, claiming Vance merely served as a “public affairs specialist.”
“I…think that JD Vance as a messenger on this may be an imperfect messenger,” Keilar said.
Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 8, 2024
When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went.
Tim Walz said he carried a gun in a war. Did he? No. It was a lie. https://t.co/kt0oxzZb83
She added, “Because we have – as you introduced him as a combat correspondent, which was what his title was, but when you did a little deeper into that, he was a public affairs specialist. Someone who did not see combat, which certainly the title ‘combat correspondent’ gives you the impression.”
Vance blasted Keilar for her gross distortion of his military service.
“Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves,” the Republican Ohio senator snapped on X.
Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves.
When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went.
Tim Walz said he carried a gun in a war. Did he? No. It was a lie. https://t.co/kt0oxzZb83— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 8, 2024
“When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went,” Vance added, referencing Walz’s abandonment of his platoon prior to their deployment to Iraq in 2005.
The Trump War Room account on X also disputed Keilar’s remarks, writing, “Brianna — the difference is that @JDVance never lied about his rank or his service, and when his unit deployed to Iraq, he didn’t abandon them.”
Indeed, Keilar’s comment undermines the fact that combat correspondents put their lives on the line while performing their duties from active war zones.
Case in point: USMC Major Megan McClung, the first female “Public Affairs Officer” who was killed by an IED in Iraq in 2006 while escorting journalists near Ramadi.
USMC Major Megan McClung was also a Marine public affairs officer. She was killed by an IED in Anbar, Iraq. She wasn’t kicking down doors, either. She is buried in Section 60 at Arlington.
— Patrick Poole (@pspoole) August 7, 2024
Shame on you. https://t.co/DuXFKvVvda pic.twitter.com/ZTvL4LgNbV
Meanwhile, stolen valor allegations against Walz are gaining traction, as he’s accused of embellishing his military career by claiming he’s a combat veteran, despite never actually seeing action.
HOLY SH*T!
— I Meme Therefore I Am ?? (@ImMeme0) August 6, 2024
Minnesota National Guard Leaders Expose Tim Walz for Stolen Valor, Lying About His Rank, and Quitting When His Unit Was Deployed to Iraq.
“As soon as the shots were fired in Iraq, he turned and ran the other way and hung his hat up and quit,” said Tom Behrends, a… pic.twitter.com/14zvDeSPRV
Watch: UK Politicians Call For Arrest Of Tommy Robinson & Nationalists To Have Their ‘Throats Cut’
A pair of British politicians were caught on camera this week advocating for their political rivals to be jailed and killed.
First, Labour Party Councillor Ricky Jones was filmed leading a protest in the middle of the street and telling demonstrators, “They are disgusting Nazi fascists and we need to cut all of their throats and get rid of them all.”
The crowd loudly cheered on the violent rhetoric and Jones ended his remarks by saying, “God bless you,” without a hint of irony.
So called ‘anti fascist protester’ says “we need to cut all their throats and get rid of them” then the crowd cheer and clap.
— Mahyar Tousi (@MahyarTousi) August 8, 2024
Why won’t the media call them out?
Why won’t the government issue a warning?
Why won’t the police arrest them? pic.twitter.com/SBZNp2kcUP
Just look at the smiles on the women standing next to Jones after he made the disgusting comment on Wednesday.
Also filmed this week, Labour MP Stella Creasy told a group of leftists that Tommy Robinson would already have a warrant out for his arrest if the UK never left the European Union.
MP @stellacreasy to mobs on the street last night: “I mean if we’d stayed in the European Union there’d be a European Arrest Warrant for Tommy Robinson, he’s due to be Arrested”.
— Tommy Robinson ?? (@TRobinsonNewEra) August 7, 2024
They’ve failed the country, and scapegoating me.
The world is watching @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/xk2NRRe2AV
Robinson commented on the videos, writing, “2 government officials, in last 24 hours alone, calling for prison and death of people they disagree with. These are the people trying to convince the world that I am the problem.”
2 government officials, in last 24 hours alone, calling for prison and death of people they disagree with.
— Tommy Robinson ?? (@TRobinsonNewEra) August 8, 2024
These are the people trying to convince the world that I am the problem.
These are the people hunting me and my family, these are the people persecuting me. pic.twitter.com/nQTYROqMXR
“My government, my police & my media have declared total war on me. The full power of the British establishment is targeted at 1 man. I put a 100,000 people on streets in a peaceful rally on July 27th & this reach terrifies them. Expect their media to do hit job after hit job against me,” he added in a separate post.
My government , my police & my media have declared total war on me . The full power of the British establishment is targeted at 1 man . I put a 100,000 people on streets in a peaceful rally on July 27th & this reach terrifies them . Expect their media to do hit job after hit job… pic.twitter.com/4fp044wLG7
— Tommy Robinson ?? (@TRobinsonNewEra) August 8, 2024
Some internet users pointed out the hypocrisy of leftists inciting violence without repercussions while a conservative man was recently jailed for over two years because he “shouted at a police officer.”
White man shouts at police officer = 26 months in jail.
— Peter Lloyd (@Suffragent_) August 8, 2024
Black Labour councillor calls for people to have their throats slit = not even arrested.#TwoTierJustice @Keir_Starmer @YvetteCooperMP #TwoTeirKeir@UKLabour @Dartford_Labour @ClevelandPolice pic.twitter.com/RYs6MjUgu3
Steven Mailen is the first person to be sentenced in Teesside for his involvement in the violent disorder in Hartlepool on Wednesday 31st July. Judge Laird jailed him for 26 months. The 53-year-old was constantly in the face of officers gesticulating and shouting at them. pic.twitter.com/tDoL9jb0Mm
— Cleveland Police (@ClevelandPolice) August 8, 2024
In a positive update, the UK Metropolitan Police announced Ricky Jones was arrested on “suspicion of encouraging murder and for an offence under the Public Order Act” Thursday.
UPDATE: Officers have arrested a man aged in his 50s at an address in South East London.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) August 8, 2024
He was held on suspicion of encouraging murder and for an offence under the Public Order Act.
He is in custody at a south London police station. https://t.co/YVuXRStZzd
While Jones was arrested, dozens of Muslim men around the UK remain free after being filmed attacking locals and damaging businesses.
The world will have to wait and see if the British political establishment protects Jones or is forced to throw the politician under the bus in order to pretend like there is no two-tier justice in the UK.
African Migrants Kidnapped, Tortured Near US-Mexico Border
Mexican authorities encountered a group of Africans who said they had been kidnapped and tortured until their families paid for their release, according to reports.
On Tuesday, police in the state of Chihuahua came upon 10 migrants wandering along the Chihuahua – Villa Ahumada Highway near Juarez, which lies across from the border from El Paso, Texas.
The migrants, who were presumably bound for the United States, said they had been held against their will by criminals.
“After the intervention, authorities were informed by the victims that four of them came from the African country Sudan, while the remaining six originated in Morocco,” officials told El Diario.
“They communicated with them through a basic interpretation of the English language, in which the group claimed to have been the victim of kidnapping and torture, in addition to being used as a means of extortion against their families.”
The Mexican Red Cross treated the migrants for severe dehydration, malnutrition, and unspecified injuries.
The Africans were taken to a ‘specialized shelter’ for additional care and and investigation has been launched.
#Nacional | ? Policía de Chihuahua rescata a diez migrantes africanos en la carretera Chihuahua-Villa Ahumada, quienes denunciaron haber sido víctimas de tortura y extorsión.#Enlace13Saltillo #Noticiashttps://t.co/iG1HwVOM87
— Enlace 13 Saltillo (@enlace13_) August 8, 2024
In June, 13 migrants from Central America were rescued after being brutally tortured and sexually abused at a cartel stash house in Juarez.
Chaos unfolds constantly along the U.S.-Mexico border, as Infowars regularly reports.
Nick Fuentes on Israeli False Flags and the 2024 Election
Watch: Trump Speaks to Reporters at Mar-a-Lago — Meanwhile, DAY 18 With No Kamala Press Conference
Former President Donald Trump will deliver comments to the press at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Thursday.
During the presser, Trump declared he’s in negotiations with several networks to host three debates, including Fox on Sept. 4, NBC on Sept. 10 (the date of the original Biden-Trump debate prior to the Democrat coup against Biden), and ABC on Sept. 25.
Trump’s press conference comes as Kamala Harris goes on Day 18 without interviews and taking no questions from reporters since her coronation as the Democrat presidential nominee.