What's Going On Here? The US Economy Through the Looking Glass
“While the AP reported on the ‘sluggish’ jobs report under President Biden, they called a similar number under Trump ‘robust,'” cable host notes
The federal government Thursday reported that initial filings for unemployment insurance totaled 184,000 for the week ended Dec. 4, falling to their lowest level going back to Sept. 6, 1969, which saw 182,000.
And this is not some blip, some aberration.
Jobs creation is up, the nation’s unemployment rate is down to just 4.2 percent — and wages are beginning to rise.
In just under a year in office, President Biden has crafted a legitimately impressive economic record.
One might expect, based on this economic stewardship, for Biden to be rewarded with approval ratings which are robust — and not the listless numbers with which he’s been saddled for weeks now.
So what's going on?
What indeed.
Consider a tale of two headlines.
MSNBC host Ari Melber recently noted two wildly different takes on similar economic data — and both from the respected and venerable Associated Press.
“While the AP reported on the ‘sluggish’ jobs report under President Biden, they called a similar number under Trump ‘robust.’” Melber tweeted.
And, yes, context matters.
However, the jobs report from 2018 came strictly as one more month of growth which had begun back under President Barack Obama.
This more recent report, however, would appear to deserve the stronger headline as it is one more building block under the Biden administration to more widely open a nation trying to escape the grasp of the deadly global pandemic.
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