Sep 6, 2018

Trump, GOP's, Fox News's And Fox Business's Economic Lies Outlined

Background:
1. Koch's Are Like Thanos From Avengers Infinity War! (The Right's Version Of Capitalism Could Be Called Thanos Economics!)
2. Delineating Between Capitalism, Industrial Capitalism (Vulture Capitalism) And Democratic Socialism (Constitutional Capitalism)
3. Case Study: Many "Business" Channels (Such As Fox Business) Are Designed To Deceive It's Viewers For Profit 
4. Fox News Has Literally Been Created For Obstruction Of Justice (i.e. Choosing Party Over Country Is What They Are All About)

The problem with the following image is that it accurately portrays what passes for economic science taught to the masses from a major news channel actually made to be the mouthpiece of an entire party "representing" half the country.


Economic cycles take years. A person getting elected to power doesn't automatically inherit the economy and if its good it means the person who suddenly got elected did that. That's stupid. 

All the GOP have done so far is make money for the rich, not the country. The country - the people, defined as the masses - are worse off. It just takes longer than a year for most of thier policies to take effect (trade war was pretty fast but normal economic cycles take years unless you kill it overnight like in the last GOP administration).


Proofs the GOP and thier mouthpieces (Fox News & Fox Business are lying);

Fox host says that Trump should take credit for the good of the stock market, but not the bad Varney’s praise of the "Trump stock market rally" conveniently ignores steady growth of the Dow under Obama

Fox Business host Stuart Varney said that President Donald Trump “was right to tout" stock market growth that has taken place since his inauguration as one of his achievements, claiming that "it was his policies which created" the rally. However, Varney dismissed the February 5 Dow Jones 1,175 point drop as an overdue market “correct[ion],” saying that "presidents shouldn't stick into that kind of sell-off on a day-to-day basis" and advising Trump to "steer clear of that, please." Varney’s comments continue a pattern of showering Trumpwith praise for a strong economy and stock market or defending his economic policies, while ignoring the six-plus years of steady economic growth under the previous president, Barack Obama, whose economic policies Varney frequently criticized.
Varney’s exhortations of “the Trump stock market rally” are misleading, as they fail to acknowledge that the growth continues the more than six years of steady stock market growth under Obama. From March 6, 2009, to November 7, 2016, the Dow Jones climbed about 11,632 points -- almost a 157 percent increase.
Even though Obama’s economic record directly contributed to the so-called “Trump rally” Varney praises, Varney frequently and bizarrely attacked Obama on the economy. True to what he himself has called his “very clearly partisan” nature, Varney even credited President George W. Bush for “fix[ing] the financial panic” when the 2007 Great Recession started and said “the economy fell off” on “Obama’s watch.” Varney also claimed that GDP figures in April 2017 meant a “bounce back” was on the horizon, but  that similar numbers in April 2016 meant we were “sliding toward recession.” 
From the February 6 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:



Read full piece here.


Fox's Stuart Varney hypes wage growth under Trump. In fact, real wage growth has gone down.
Fox Business host Stuart Varney appeared on Fox & Friends to hype economic growth under the Trump administration, claiming “wages are rising 25 percent faster under President Trump than they did under President Obama.” From the July 31 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

But, according to the Center for American Progress, while nominal wage growth has ticked up slightly, “workers’ wages are flat or even slightly down, in real terms, over the last year” because “inflation has picked up more than wage growth.” Moreover, despite Varney’s claims that the Republican tax cuts “pumped up the economy,” according to the Center for American Progress, “real wages are flat or slightly down since the tax bill passed.”
Furthermore, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s wage growth tracker showed that wages are in fact growing at a slower rate than they were in November 2016 under President Obama.


On Fox & Friends, Stuart Varney defends Trump's $12 billion bailout for agricultural industry that he hurt with his tariffs Varney: "He's mitigating the damage, which China's tariffs on our agricultural products will produce that damage occurs in the farm belt. Politically sensitive."

STUART VARNEY (FOX BUSINESS NETWORK): Look, President Trump is using this money, going to the farmers because he is giving negotiations staying power. He's buying time. He's mitigating the damage, which China's tariffs on our agricultural products will produce that damage occurs in the farm belt. Politically sensitive. Kansas, Iowa, et cetera, et cetera. The president uses these payouts, up to $12 billion to mitigate that damage. After all, why should the farmers bear the brunt of the damage when we all of us get the benefits from a free trade agreement if that's where we end up?
STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Clearly he thinks that a trade deal is around the corner. But, in the meantime, he's got this money to help the people, make sure that they are afloat during some challenging times for the soybean farmers and others. 
VARNEY: It allows the president to maintain the hard line, and that's exactly what he is doing. And I think you are approve of that. Don't you?
Related:
Previously



Fox is deceptively hyping GOP’s next tax bill that just benefits the ultra rich

Back in December, when President Donald Trump signed into law changes in U.S. tax policy, Fox News helped Republicans spin the discussion surrounding the legislation by hyping anecdotal reports of bonuses, wage hikes, and investments. Now that Republicans are aiming to make the individual tax cuts permanent, Fox is at it again -- despite analyses showing how staggeringly disproportionate the benefits are for the wealthy and large businesses, that they barely lower tax burdens for some middle class and lower income families, and that they have had no noticeable positive effect on the economy.
The law, officially titled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed in December, and Fox hosts celebratedthe legislation’s passage after contributing their own dishonest coverage. Fox News shows repeatedlyfocused on announcements of bonuses -- such as some AT&T workers receiving a $1,000 bonus their union already negotiated -- and small wage increases from some companies to portray the tax cuts as beneficial for ordinary working Americans.
Others, including Fox’s Sean Hannity, claimed that the tax legislation would lead to increased investment by corporations, in some cases pointing to anecdotal examples of businesses announcing investments and saying they were possible because of the policy change. Two days after the legislation’s passage, Fox & Friends invited White House special adviser Ivanka Trump on to hype an increase to the Child Tax Credit in the legislation. (According to tax experts, “the expanded child credit will actually provide little relief for some of the lowest-income families.”)
Republicans are now attempting to pass another tax bill, in part to make permanent the individual tax policy changes in the original law, which expire within 10 years. The White House is portraying a report that House Republicans are planning to advance a bill as “a big win for the middle class.” And Fox News is again helping Republicans with their spin. On July 18, Fox & Friends hosted Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee -- the committee the bill would originate from -- who said lawmakers should make permanent “those cuts for middle-class families.” Later on the show, Fox Business host Stuart Varney said: “I think Republicans are setting a tax trap for the Democrats. … Are the Democrats going to vote against something which really supports America's middle class?”

But as reporting from NPR and experts from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) have explained, Trump’s tax cuts provide only minor benefits to the middle class, are geared toward the wealthiest Americans, and are having no noticeable positive effect on the economy.

Trump tax cuts disproportionately benefit the wealthy

NPR: Tax cut benefits to middle class are meager compared to those affecting the wealthy. NPR cited a December report from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center which showed that middle-class households are receiving meager tax benefits from the Trump tax cuts compared to the wealthiest households and that when those benefits expire, middle-class households will earn slightly less income than they did before the tax cuts were passed:
[NPR, 12/19/17]
EPI: Republican spin of tax cuts as primarily middle-class benefits “is false.” A blog post by EPI budget analyst Hunter Blair showed that Republican lawmakers’ attempted spin of the Trump tax cuts as targeted to the middle class “is false.” The post showed that the bottom 80 percent of taxpayers earn a disproportionately small benefit from the policy change, with the top 5 percent earning a larger share of the benefits relative to their income:
[Economic Policy Institute, 4/13/18]
CBPP: Trump tax cuts deliver largest benefits to the wealthiest while boosting income inequality. The CBPP explained in an April report that Trump’s tax plan “will increase income inequality since it delivers far larger tax cuts to households at the top, measured as a share of income, than to households at the bottom or middle of the income distribution”:
[Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/9/18]
CBPP: Increase in Child Tax Credit skews toward the wealthy. The CBPP report explained that “10 million children under age 17 in low-income working families will receive no CTC increase or a token increase of $75 or less.” Further, the law increased the upper limit for the Child Tax Credit from $110,000 in income annually to $400,000, with the wealthiest getting an increase worth several times more than the increase middle-class families will receive:
[Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/9/18]

Data so far show Trump tax cuts having no positive effect on the economy

EPI: “There is no evidence that wage growth has materially picked up since the TCJA’s passage.” In June 1 testimony submitted to the House’s Tax Policy Subcommittee, EPI explained that “there is no evidence that wage growth has materially picked up since the TCJA’s passage.”
[Economic Policy Institute, 6/1/18]
Bloomberg’s Noah Smith: Federal Reserve data and PayScale index show wages fell after Trump tax cuts took effect. In a July 18 Bloomberg column, Noah Smith pointed to Federal Reserve and private sector data to show that wages actually declined since the Trump tax cuts were passed:
[Bloomberg, 7/18/18]
EPI: Bonuses were overhyped, and they are less likely to occur in future years. EPI’s testimony explained that “nearly 40 percent of American workers get bonuses every year,” and that there was a financial incentive to give bonuses after the law’s passage at the end of 2017 when such bumps could be less expensively written off on corporate tax filings. As EPI explained: “What this means is that even if some increase in bonuses occurred in 2017 because of the TCJA (this remains a big ‘if’), there is no reason to think such bonuses will recur in the future.” [Economic Policy Institute, 6/1/18]
Read full piece here.


An Overwhelming Majority Of Economists Are Predicting Failure For Trump’s Tax Cut Agenda Will Journalists Continue To Take Trump’s Empty Economic Promises Seriously?
According to a new survey from the University of Chicago, vanishingly few economists agree with the claim of President Donald Trump’s administration that blowing up the deficit with tax cuts for the rich will pay for itself by generating new economic growth. Professional economists have warned of Trump’s economic agenda for over a year; when will news outlets stop taking his boasts seriously?
On April 26, the Trump administration unveiled a plan to slash taxes for high-income earners, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin implausibly claimed the tax proposal “will pay for itself” by stoking latent economic growth. Last week, a new survey by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business showed that almost no professional economists agree with Mnuchin’s prediction that the plan will “pay for itself.” A May 4 article in The Washington Post described the findings as proof that “economists aren't buying” the Republican Party’s trickle-down economic agenda while a May 5 article from Vox noted that the results were “a rare display of unanimity” among economists. In statements given to both outlets, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) economist David Autor described Trump’s tax cut plan as “a fiscal disaster.” The survey results showed only two of 37 economists who answered the question agree with the statement that Trump’s tax proposal “would likely pay for itself.” Both these economists later clarified that they misread the question and had meant to register their disapproval. Stanford economist Kenneth Judd later told the Post, “I screwed up on that one … I meant to say that this is a horrible idea, a bad idea -- no chance in hell.” From the University of Chicago:
This timely rebuke by economists of Trump’s economic smoke and mirrors seemed to have been lost on CNN, which spent much of May 5 promoting the inexplicable claim that unnamed "economists" think Trump's rhetoric alone had so far been enough to stoke economic growth. CNN host Jake Tapper falsely claimed “many economists credit” Trump’s promise of tax cuts, deregulation, and profligate spending for job creation since he took office. CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans bizarrely claimed throughout the day that Trump’s “rhetoric” about the economy was responsible for a minuscule uptick in manufacturing sector employment, which rebounded substantially under former President Barack Obama.
The survey results showing that economists don’t trust Trump’s tax cutting agenda add to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that cutting taxes for the rich is a bad way to boost the economy. Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called Trump’s trickle-down economic plan a return to the “voodoo economics” of the Bush and Reagan administrations and pointed to numerous examples of previous Republican administrations cutting taxes and not spurring growth. Independent research from the Congressional Research Service and Brookings Institution has been unable to find a causal relationship between tax cuts and economic growth, and many experts who hammered Trump’s fiscal policy proposals have pointed out that his restrictive approach to trade and immigration is likely to dampen economic activity, not enhance it.
Trump has been pilloried for having only a few credentialed economists on his economic policy team and 370 economists, including eight Nobel laureates, signed a letter denouncing his repeated lies and “conspiracy theories” about the state of the American economy. It is no wonder that Trump could not manage to garner the support of a single former member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers during his presidential campaign. What remains to be seen is why any media outlet, such as CNN last week, would take his positions seriously or accept his policy proposals at face value.


Fox claims wages are going up. They're actually falling. Average “real wages” are falling because growth isn’t keeping up with inflation
Fox Business host Stuart Varney appeared on Fox & Friends to mislead viewers about economic growth under the Trump administration, claiming that, “wages [and] salaries are going up for the best increase in at least a decade,” and asserting that “if you have a skill that’s in demand … your wages, salaries are going up.”
From the August 20 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:


According to The Washington Post, however, any apparent increase in wages is being wiped out by a larger increase in inflation. Once inflation is taken into account, the average U.S. “real wage” is actually decreasing, falling to “$10.76 an hour last month, 2 cents down from where it was a year ago.” In addition to falling wage growth, workers must grapple with “with higher prices giving [them] less buying power than they had last summer,” according to The New York Times. The Times also reported on the concerning disparity between corporate profits and workers’ gains, noting, “Corporate profits have rarely swept up a bigger share of the nation’s wealth, and workers have rarely shared a smaller one.”
Varney’s claim that supposed wage growth is “the best increase in at least a decade” is misleading on two fronts: Average wages have fallen over the past year once inflation is accounted for, and wage growth is increasing at a slower rate than in November 2016, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s wage growth tracker.
Unfortunately, this is isn’t the first time that Fox has attempted to mislead the viewers about wage growth or the Trump economy.


On Msnbc;

American job growth falls short of expectations in July

The misguided pitch behind Trump’s new fuel-efficiency standards


Republicans are losing their religion on deficits "The Trump Stimulus will cost more than the recovery act Republicans fought against so forcefully when Barack Obama was President," says Chris Hayes.



GOP Economics



GOP's War On Healthcare


GOP's "Height Of Hypocrisy" Series



Lessons In Civics & Economics


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