The economic sky isn’t falling – here’s what you need to know about scary ups and downs

Fox Business News ^ | 08/19/2019 | Liz Peek

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Let us not let the left-wing media talk us into a recession. Make no mistake: they are eager to do so.

For months the liberal press has echoed Democrats’ hand-wringing on the campaign trail, repeating Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s unwarranted warnings about debt levels for instance, or former Vice President Joe Biden’s alarms about how President Trump’s trade confrontation with China is hurting consumers.

After all, it’s hard to call for a revolution if the people are happy.

Less enthusiastically reported have been record lows in unemployment and accelerating wage increases – news that might buoy consumer sentiment, and, not unimportantly, Trump’s reelection prospects.

That’s why Democrats and their media enablers were beyond giddy to see markets nosedive. This was it, pundits proclaimed: Trump’s trade war has brought us to the brink of a downturn.

Maybe. But maybe not.

The very next day, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. retail sales surged 0.7 percent in July, up from a 0.3 percent gain in June, beating expectations.

The U.S. consumer continues to defy prognosticators; despite Democrats campaigning on the miseries of the middle class, by gosh the middle class insists on streaming into Walmart and pumping up the economy.

Walmart just reported that its “U.S. comp sales increased on a two-year stacked basis by 7.3%, which is the strongest growth in more than 10 years.”

Also, the Labor Department reported that productivity rose 2.3 percent in the second quarter, down from 3.5 percent in the first quarter, but a solid gain nonetheless, and one that bodes well for future wage hikes.

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Hoping for a recession does not cause a recession. A recession could be triggered by widespread pessimism and anxiety that made people less likely to invest or spend, lowering sales and profits and creating a vicious cycle.

But Bill Maher (who says he wishes for a recession in order to elect a Democrat in 2020) and a couple of writers are unlikely, by themselves, to generate enough economic pessimism to make people change their economic behavior.

And if you think Democratic lawmakers can sound sufficiently gloomy to make businesses less interested in hiring new employees or unveiling new products, recall that the Democrats’ message on the economy hasn’t changed since Trump was elected.

Don’t get me wrong, None of this means a recession is impossible, obviously; in fact, when so many economic indicators look this good, it’s probably hard to maintain that level for an extended period of time; similar to how the New England Patriots, the Toronto Raptors, Boston Red Sox and Saint Louis Blues will have a hard time doing better than they did last year.

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Gallup found “Americans’ confidence in the U.S. economy improved in July, with Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index rising seven points to +29. The latest index is the highest Gallup has measured since February.”

SEE HERE:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/261485/economic-confidence-improved-july.aspx

[Theoria]

[1Old Pro]

People won’t believe the lie - sad that lying is all the Dems have to campaign on, that and hate. Not a winning combination.

[Disestablishmentarian]

This is mostly a negative pile of horse pucky.

Of course malls are dying. They have been for a long time. Things change. People smoke less cigarettes but consume far more wireless communications today. Big deal.

Trump has not failed to bring back industrial jobs; but, it will help when the USMCA is ratified along with other trade deals. Still YOU SEEM TO IGNORE Trump has rescued coal, fracking, pipelines and so many other industries already, in just 2.5 years. Sheesh!

BTW, President Trump "created" 4.7 million jobs in his first two years--A PACE TO MAKE HIM THE GREATEST JOB CREATING PRESIDENT IN HISTORY.

What do you know about the stock market, if you're trying to live on Savings Account or CD interest? Again, times change. Personally, I do not give credence to your view that the stock market has topped.

"People living off savings" need to be in the stock market. Buy some good mutual funds and quit trying to live off interest alone.

Only libtards are "cutting back on travel to reduce their CO2 footprint." Not even Al Gore is that stupid. (HINT: It's a leftist hoax, like Russia-gate.)

Bottom Line: I would urge you to have more faith in the resurgent American economy.