Posted on 06/06/2020 9:22:12 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
A surprise gain in jobs reported on Friday is likely to slow momentum for another round of major fiscal relief from Congress.
Stephen Moore, an outside adviser to President Trump and a contributor to the Washington Examiner, said that Friday’s jobs report should lead Congress not to pursue further relief.
“After the jobs report this morning, I think the White House and Congress are going to really reconsider the need for any kind of spending and probably kills the idea of the 'blue state bailout,'" Moore told the Washington Examiner.
Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, downplayed the urgency of enacting the kind of massive stimulus measure sought by congressional Democrats.
“The jobs report underscores why Congress should take a thoughtful approach and not rush to pass expensive legislation paid for with more debt before gaining a better understanding of the economic condition of the country," said Michael Zona, a spokesman for the Iowa senator.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that the economy gained 2.5 million jobs in May, lowering the unemployment rate to 13.3%. Forecasters expected job losses of 8 million and an unemployment rate of about 20%.
Conservatives cited the job gains as a reason for caution about further relief.
“Congress should slow down, learn from past stimulus failures, and fix policy mistakes that discourage work and economic recovery,” said Rachel Greszler, a research fellow in economics at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation.
She noted that “many workers haven’t been permanently separated from their jobs" and that parts of the economy are restarting.
House Democrats last month approved a $3 trillion relief package. The bill includes nearly $1 trillion in aid to state and local governments, which cut nearly 600,000 jobs in May, Friday's report showed.
Many Republicans, though, are concerned that state and local governments might use the money for nonvirus issues, such as shoring up pension funds.
Trump, however, endorsed the idea of more relief. "We’re set up to do more if we want. I think we should because we are dominant," he said at the White House on Friday.
Vice President Mike Pence said on Friday that the White House is open to providing aid to state and local governments in the next relief package as long as the funding goes to coronavirus-related expenses.
“We are open to help states with coronavirus-related costs,” he told CNBC, adding, “Make no mistake about it, the president has expressed a strong openness to another relief bill. … The governors around this country know that President Trump and I are ready, willing, and able to work with them.”
Stan Veuger, a resident scholar at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said that Congress better include state and local funding in the next relief bill.
“State and local governments, which have to run balanced operating budgets and are generally approaching the end of their fiscal year, need support from the federal government to avoid unnecessary job losses there. I do not believe Congress and the administration do, in fact, want to defund the police,” he stated via email.
The Senate is not expected to take up the House-passed bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said last week that the next coronavirus aid package will be written in the Senate and negotiated with the White House.
McConnell said the next measure the Senate will negotiate would be “narrowly tailored” and would include “narrowly crafted liability protections” for businesses, healthcare facilities and professionals, and universities. It may also include “additional assistance” for small businesses, healthcare, and the unemployed, he said.
More money for state and local governments “is possible and certainly worth considering,” he said, but he added that the federal government has already allocated $150 billion in federal aid to the states.
He said a decision would be made about whether to take up another relief bill in “about a month.”
Good.
Massive government spending will be as bad for the economy as the lockdowns.
Worse even.
Best news I’ve seen all day.
That bill is dead.
The states aren’t getting a bailout and most of the other cramdowns aren’t going to happen.
The data is still unreliable.
"When the U.S. government’s official jobs report for May came out on Friday, it included a note at the bottom saying there had been a major “error” indicating that the unemployment rate likely should be higher than the widely reported 13.3 percent rate.The special note said that if this “misclassification error” had not occurred, the “overall unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher than reported,” meaning the unemployment rate would be about 16.3 percent for May. But that would still be an improvement from an unemployment rate of about 19.7 percent for April, applying the same standards."
We are in sad enough fiscal shape already.
I did enjoy buying new electronics tools for the workbench with the 1200.00 though :-)
If they do send another one I'm upgrading my old oscilloscopes to a new top line model I have been craving.
I recommend fellow freepers buy silver as a hedge and insurance policy.
It's in short supply but I found monster boxes of Canadian Maple leafs at a good price.
Screw them if they want to keep this self imposed shutdown so they can ask for a big welfare check.
Ah, the crypto-liberal Examiner
Ah, the crypto-liberal Examiner
“The special note said that if this “misclassification error” had not occurred, the “overall unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher than reported...”
Which can also mean the count before they recounted could also be 3 percentage points too high. (Or more or less) In other words, they start with faulty information and continue it so they are using a proximity, not a calculation. Those numbers change moment to moment. Freeze one in time and give me positives or negatives and they’re telling me nothing. Just like the stock market. It may go up a 1000 today, but it will settle at 200. And it is manipulated as much as the unemployment numbers. So what do you really know?
rwood
I passed on a sweet and very cheap used Tectronix oscilloscope back in the early 90’s because i believed that it was stolen.
i always Kinda wished i had bought it.
There must be some kind PC plug in/attachment thingy to turn ones PC into a oscilloscope nowadays..
The best time to buy silver was 15 years ago. So, I guess the next best time would be today? ;)
$1200 to each American was enough. Nazi Pelousy’s dream of infinite welfare is now dead..
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