Tag: inflation

14-44 Final Sprint to Election Day | Truth about Trump v. Kamala Economies

14-44 Final Sprint to Election Day | Truth about Trump v. Kamala Economies

Show 14-44 Summary: It’s the final sprint to the finish line. And the Friday before the election Kamalanomics got some pretty bad news: only 12,000 (not a typo) jobs created in October. And another 112,000 jobs were erased from September and August because they never existed outside of their original headlines that screamed how great the jobs were. This week, we talk with chief economist and executive VP of American Legislative Exchange Council about Trump vs Kamala economic policies. Who has the better economic record, the better administration policy to grow the3 economy, and what their future economies will look like. Kamala is floating some spooky ideas on taxes, spending and debt. And we talk about Trump’s policies that has the Big Spender spooked and why. Get out there and vote like your future and America’s future depends on it. It does.

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Original Air Dates: November 2nd & 3rd, 2024 | Guest: Jonathan Williams

This Week – Truth about Trump vs Kamala Economic Policies

October Surprise? ~The October jobs numbers just came out this morning at a paltry 12,000 new jobs. That’s not a typo. There isn’t a zero missing. Even more bad economic news: they erased another 112,000 jobs from the two previous months, September and August. Jobs that never existed outside the leftstream media propaganda headlines.

Just 12,000 new jobs for all of America (and we’d be negative if not for 40,000 government jobs). It’s a devastatingly low number for the Biden/Harris administration and after Kamala said there’s nothing she’d change regarding Biden’s policies.

Did you miss it? I Spy host had an article published in American Thinker: “The One Overlooked Reason Christians Should Vote in 2024.” Please share that with any reluctant Christians you know that are thinking of not voting.

Oh. And the GDP came in low. A sluggish 2.8%. Lower than the usual 3.0%.

This week, we welcome back Jonathan Williams, the chief economist and executive vice president of the American Legislative Exchange Council, to compare and contrast the Trump economy vs the Kamala economy. What were their records. What did they do right. And how will they differ if elected?

Kamala is floating some spooky ideas about taxes, spending, and debt. And Trump is floating some ideas that is spooking the big-government big-spenders. Listen and find out.

Personally? The difference really comes down to this: Trump wants to grow the economy. Kamala wants to grow government. It really is that simple.

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Show Notes: Research, Links Mentioned & Additional Info

  • Jonathan’s organization is ALEC – the American Legislative Exchange Council. Find out more at ALEC.org.
    • Encourage your representatives to join ALEC! There are state and city memberships. Help elected officials understand economic problems and the real solutions available to get out of them! Send them this link: https://alec.org/membership/.
    • And you too can join as a private-sector member!
    • You can follow Jonathan on Twitter at @TaxEconomist.
  • Head to Rich States, Poor States to see how your state is doing. And for a taste of what Kamalanomics and Walzonomics would be like, check out how badly Minnesota is doing under governor Tim Walz. (Hint: worse than Oregon!)
  • Check out Trump’s platform, “Agenda 47.” A 20-point plan, much of which focuses on the economy.
  • Mike Johnson discusses plan to get rid of Obamacare. (Via X, Oct 31 2024)
  • 3 Charts Show How Biden-Harris Admin Grew Debt by $8 Trillion (Daily Signal, Oct 22, 2024)
  • Five Frightening Financial Charts To Fear This Halloween! (ZeroHedge, Oct 31, 2024)
  • Jobs Shock: October Payrolls Huge Miss As Private Jobs Go Negative For First Time Since 2020 (ZeroHedge, Nov 1, 2024)
  • U.S. economy grew at a 2.8% pace in the third quarter, less than expected (CNBC, Oct 30, 2024)
Economics: Rich States, Poor States — Guess Where Oregon is

Economics: Rich States, Poor States — Guess Where Oregon is

Show Summary: It’s true economics isn’t the most exciting topic in the world — that is, until everything starts blowing up. Then you’ll wish you’d paid attention.

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Original Air Dates: May 15 & 16, 2021 | Jonathan Williams

This Week: Economics isn’t always exciting — unless things are blowing up. Or it’s a horse race.

We welcome back Jonathan Williams, Chief Economist and Executive Vice President of Policy of the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC has just released their 2021 Rich States, Poor States guide for 2021, an annual guide to the 50 states’ economic outlook. Talk about good, bad, and ugly. Look no further than how the states are competing with one another.

The Overall U.S. Economy & Economics

Before we narrow down to the states, we first look at the overall economy. This is a bit of a continuation of the last time Jonathan was on, when we talked about the democrats’ shift to what we call “non-reality economics.” The democrats’ plans are an explosion of taxes and spending sprees (what did we just say about exploding economics…?).

That discussion, was about the radical shift we’re seeing the democrats trying desperately to push on the U.S. Which, sadly, takes a hard left turn away from what has made America successful. It’s a fantasy land where debt has no meaning, money is infinite, and all we need to do is print money and borrow until every there’s a unicorn in every garage and a leprechaun in every pot.

But the problem democrats always run into is simple one. Reality. And there’s proof, thanks to the 50 test tubes of democracy that make up America.

Good Economies: How NOT to do it

Sometimes, to know what to do, it helps to know what not to do. And look no further than New York State, which had the worst response to covid and lost a congressional seat due to people fleeing the Empire State. And now new York will punish the people and businesses that for some reason haven’t left. Yet.

We talk with Jonathan about his terrific article in the National Review, “The Fallout from ‘Progressive’ Budgets in New York.” There has been a massive shift in who pays for things. Now, instead of New York being in debt to cover its debt, everyone else gets to go in debt to cover New York’s debts.

And that’s the direction we as a nation are headed. Where there is a fundamental shift in who pays for things: everyone is paying for everyone else. That’s socialism. Marxist ideology pushed onto America.

Socialism only survives as long as it is able to feed off the success of capitalism
– Mark Anderson

Rich States, Poor States

Why and how economies and economic policies work is sometimes beyond people’s wheelhouse. But everyone understands competition, right? Who’s best. Who’s worst. And who’s on the way up and who’s on the way down.

Oregon's economic performance 2009 - 2019. Courtesy of Rich States, Poor States
Courtesy Rich States, Poor States, 2021 Edition. (Click image for full size.)

That’s where Rich States, Poor States comes in. (You can download your own copy right here.) RSPS is a look back at the states’ economic performances over the last 10 years—of available data. This year, its’ a look at 2009–2019.

The backward-looking economic performance ranking examines how well states did. Oregon, from 2009–2019, really didn’t do too bad. This ranking looks at three variables: a state’s gross domestic product, their absolute domestic migration, and non-farm payroll.

Take a look at Oregon’s charts. And look at how well they’re correlated. As the state did better and better, culminating in 2015, people moved in (especially in 2016). Payrolls went up. And then, as Oregon’s GDP declined, there went the people. And payrolls dropped.

See? Economics isn’t too hard.

Oregon’s Economic Outlook

When it comes to Oregon’s economic outlook ranking, every year we’re like “please don’t embarrass us, please don’t embarrass us…” And then there we are. Near the bottom. Again. But it’s even worse this year.

You’ll have to tune in to hear just how bad. (Or, you could cheat and go right to Rich States Poor States to find out.) But here’s a hint. We beat even our idiot neighbor to the south in some categories. In fact, in the worst possible category. And we’re worse than New York State in some categories. You know, the one state we just mentioned. How not to run an economy.

Although at least the beat us to the bottom for the worst outlook. Hey. You gotta look for the positive right?

The I Spy Radio Show Podcast Version

Trapped under a heavy object? Missed the show? Don’t worry—catch the podcast version. I Spy Radio is now available on your favorite platform, or you can grab it right here. See the full list of podcast options.

Links Mentioned

Did You Know…?

  • The Fed has been pumping (printing) money into the economy. But something new happened in 2020. Now, they are buying corporate bonds. This is a direct investment into select corporations. Here’s a hint. It’s not mom-and-pop shops. It’s gigantic companies that don’t need the money, but the Fed is rewarding them anyway.
  • The Fed says it is going to start buying individual corporate bonds (CNBC, June 15, 2020)
  • The Fed begins purchases of up to $250 billion in individual corporate bonds (Markets Insider, June 15, 2020)
  • Why the Fed’s new index approach to buying U.S. corporate debt ‘changes everything’ (MarketWatch, June 18, 2020)
  • Fed Makes Initial Purchases in Its First Corporate Debt Buying Program (New York Times, May 12, 2020)
  • Is the Federal Reserve Printing Money? (The Balance, May 11, 2021)
  • Why is the Fed buying up mortgages? At $40 billion per month. Is this why the housing market keeps exploding? “Understanding the Federal Reserve Balance Sheet” (Investopedia, Mar 19, 2021)

Related Links

  • The Fed Should Get Out of the Mortgage Market: Even central bankers are starting to wonder why they’re adding $40 billion of housing debt every month. (Bloomberg Opinion, May 11, 2021)
    • “Why exactly is the Fed still increasing its holdings of mortgage-backed securities by $40 billion a month when Chair Jerome Powell himself has said that “the housing sector has more than fully recovered from the downturn”?* “The Fed has gobbled up almost $2 trillion of MBS since March 2020, which is more than its total aggregate purchases in any of its previous quantitative easing episodes.”
    • At an average home mortgage price of $250,000, the fed backs the mortgage on some 8 million homes. Yikes!
  • In 2010, The Fed answers FAQs on Mortgage Backed Securities
  • What Is An Agency MBS And How Does The Federal Reserve’s Purchase Of MBS Affect Mortgage Rates? (Quicken Loans, Feb 19, 2021)
    • “A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a pool of home loans, often packaged by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae, sold on the open bond market to investors. The investors who buy the securities then receive the payback on a monthly basis when homeowners make their principal and interest payments.”
  • Difference Between Agency and Non-Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities (The Balance, Jul 15  2020) – “Agency” simply means an dept of the federal govt, or MBS that become backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S.