Under Donald Trump black unemployment goes back up. You kind of knew this was going to happen, didn't you?

And in the blink of an eye, black unemployment rises to 7.7% in one of the largest increases in years. #JobsReport https://t.co/ApeCuVU2uj pic.twitter.com/O1R9CUlRC4

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) February 2, 2018

Oh Donald Trump should never have said this.

Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2018

Because obviously that shifted everybody's attention to black unemployment, which was all but guaranteed to go up with a racist in the White House.

So gee, what does Donald Trump have to say to Jay Z now?

Despite Trump campaign promises, US jobs are shipping overseas even faster than before.

I can't believe they're buying this.

Courtesy of Quartz:  

“We’re just shipping company after company after company is leaving this country and leaving jobs behind,” president Donald Trump said on the campaign trail last year. “And I’m going to get it stopped.” 

So far, not so good. A group that advocates for federal workers says government records show (pdf) more than 10,000 jobs at federal contractors have been sent over overseas since Trump was elected. That’s more than double the average annual amount during Barack Obama’s presidency. The organization, Good Jobs Nation, funded by unions and faith groups, wants the White House to hold these contractors accountable. 

All told, in the year since Trump was elected, more than 93,000 jobs have been certified by the Department of Labor as lost to outsourcing or trade competition, slightly higher than the average of about 87,000 in the preceding five years. But federal contractors made up 10% of that number, rather than the previous average of 4%. That suggests companies that work for the government like General Motors, Boeing and United Technologies aren’t worried about political repercussions from the man in the White House.

Consider United Technologies, which is the parent company of Carrier, a maker of air conditions and heating equipment. Carrier became famous shortly after the election when Trump loudly and personally intervened to “prevent” the company from outsourcing jobs to Mexico by offering it tax breaks. Since the spotlight has shifted along with Trump’s limited attention span, Carrier announced more layoffs, including 215 after the holidays. Local labor leaders say they feel betrayed.

I keep wondering what is the tipping point when the non-racist or batshit crazy Trump supporters will suddenly realize that they were duped.

I think stories like this might help make that a reality.

The idea that this idiot could deliver on ANY of the promises he made was always completely ridiculous. 

MAGA my ass.

So much for Trump's claims that he is doing more for the economy than anybody.

Average Monthly #Job Gains
-by year

•2017: 171,000
•2016: 187,000
•2015: 226,000
•2014: 250,000
•2013: 192,000
•2012: 179,000
•2011: 174,000
•2010: 88,000#JobsReport

— Fox News Research (@FoxNewsResearch) January 5, 2018

And this is Fox News!

It should be noted that those 2010 numbers were while the country was still recovering from the Bush Administration which saw us lose jobs at an alarming rate.

As the Rachel Maddow blog reports that these numbers represent the lowest job numbers in six years.

No Trump has not earned any bragging rights as of yet, and likely never really will.

But of course that will not stop him from bragging.

Woman who was fired for flipping Donald Trump's motorcade the bird receives 453,678 job offers. #ShePersisted.

Remember this woman?

Remember that she was ultimately fired for expressing an emotion shared by the overall majority ot his country?

Yeah, well as I predicted she will not be out of a job for long.

Courtesy of Extra Newsfeed:  

No worries. A week after giving the president the finger and finding herself out of work, Ms. Briskman has now received 453,678 job offers (and counting) from employers large and small, from every state in the union. 

“She’s my ‘she-ro,’” said Lucy Clementori, who owns a chain of fitness centers throughout the Southwest and promised to hire Ms. Briskman, sight unseen. “She can take over our spin classes and teach everyone that great presidential salute!”

Norm LaForge, who started a multi-million dollar company erecting cell towers in the Midwest, wants Juli Briskman to start yesterday. “It took guts to do what she did, giving the finger to The Great White Dope. That kind of chutzpah makes a great salesperson. She’s hired.” 

“I don’t have any openings, but I’ll find a place for her anyway,” said Darlene Ranalin, founder of a public relations firm in Boston. “I guess President Drumpf was right after all, he really is creating new jobs.”

And let that be a lesson to any other potential presidential protesters. 

Protest away my friends, because America has your back.

Fact Check.org releases final numbers on Obama's presidency.

Courtesy of Fact Check.org: 

The numbers are nearly all in now. What they show about what really happened during the eight years that Barack Obama was president is sometimes different from what politicians claimed. 

• The economy gained a net 11.5 million jobs. The unemployment rate dropped to below the historical norm. 
• Average weekly earnings for all workers were up 4.1 percent after inflation. The gain was 3.7 percent for just production and nonsupervisory employees. 
• After-tax corporate profits also set records, as did stock prices. The S&P 500 index rose 166 percent. 
• The number of people lacking health insurance dropped by 15 million. Premiums rose, but more slowly than before. 
• The federal debt owed to the public rose 128 percent. Deficits were rising as Obama departed. 
• Home prices rose 20 percent. But the home ownership rate hit the lowest point in half a century. 
• Illegal immigration declined: The Border Patrol caught 35 percent fewer people trying to get into the U.S. from Mexico. 
• Wind and solar power increased 369 percent. Coal production declined 38 percent. Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuel dropped 11 percent. 
• Production of handguns rose 192 percent, to a record level. 
• The murder rate dropped to the lowest on record in 2014, then rose and finished at about the same rate as when Obama took office.

 Overall those are pretty damn good numbers. 

Critics of the President can complain that the numbers could be better, and that opportunities were missed, but they have to be reminded that everything the President accomplished he did with the Republicans attempting to obstruct him every step of the way.

I can hardly wait to compare this to the final numbers on the Trump presidency.

White House aides scrambling for the exits.

At least four people in this photo are already gone.

Courtesy of Politico:  

A fast-growing number of White House staffers are starting to look for the exits, even though the one-year mark of President Donald Trump’s first term is still months away. 

Many who joined the administration in January did so with the explicit idea that they’d stay for at least a year, enough to credibly say they’d served. But in the aftermath of a wave of abrupt, high-profile departures over the summer that culminated with former chief strategist Steve Bannon’s ouster in August, aides up and down the chain are reaching out to headhunters, lobbyists, and GOP operatives for help finding their next job.

Staffers from the National Economic Council — where director Gary Cohn is expected to be on his way out altogether after tax reform or onto a different role — as well as the communications shop and beyond are quietly exploring their next moves. They’re talking to headhunters about positions as in-house government affairs experts at major companies, or as executives at trade associations, universities, or consulting firms — ironically, jobs that run counter to Trump’s “drain the swamp” mantra.

“There will be an exodus from this administration in January,” said one Republican lobbyist, who alone has heard from five officials looking for new gigs. “Everyone says, ‘I just need to stay for one year.’ If you leave before a year, it looks like you are acknowledging that you made a mistake.” 

Staffers are already laying the groundwork through networking, lunches, and résumés sent to D.C.-based executive recruiters, so that they can a land new job by the start of 2018. Two headhunters confirmed that they had heard from multiple White House staffers. 

“There is no joy in Trumpworld right now,” said one adviser in frequent contact with several staffers. “Working in the White House is supposed to be the peak of your career, but everyone is unhappy, and everyone is fighting everyone else.” 

I also heard a reporter on television report that a number of aides are only doing the bare minimum on the job to avoid reading any memos or overhearing any conversations that might make them a target of the Mueller investigation.

Apparently a number of aides have already had to hire legal counsel and the costs could eat up their entire yearly wage.

I had dire predictions for this Trump presidency, but I have to admit that this is so much worse than even I imagined.

Remember those Carrier jobs that Donald Trump "saved?" Yeah, that's not happening.

Courtesy of CNBC: 

More than 600 employees at a Carrier plant in Indianapolis are bracing for layoffs beginning next month, despite being told by President Trump that nearly all the jobs at the plant had been saved. The deal, announced with great fanfare before Trump took office, was billed not only as a heroic move to keep jobs from going to Mexico but also as a seismic shift in the economic development landscape. 

Nearly seven months later the deal has not worked out quite as originally advertised, and the landscape has barely budged. 

"The jobs are still leaving," said Robert James, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999. "Nothing has stopped." 

In fact, after the layoffs are complete later this year, a few hundred union jobs will remain at the plant. But that is far different from what then-President-elect Trump said just three weeks after the election. 

"They're going to have a great Christmas," Trump said to cheering steelworkers and local dignitaries on Dec. 1. The plan to close the plant and lay off 1,400 workers had become a frequent topic in the Trump campaign. He said 1,100 jobs would stay in Indianapolis, thanks to the deal. 

"And by the way, that number is going to go up very substantially as they expand this area," he said. "So the 1,100 is going to be a minimum number."

So all of that was bullshit shoveled out for a political photo-op.

Trump actually promised 7 million dollars of incentives, and in return Carrier will continue to retain about 730 manufacturing jobs for the next ten years, but the rest are gone and will continue to move overseas despite promises from Trump to "bring those jobs back home."

By the way the 16 million dollars that Carrier promised Trump to reinvest in the company will go towards automation which will ultimately cost even more human employees their jobs.

Another backdrop that Trump used to talk about saving jobs was at the Boeing plant in South Carolina.

Guess what:

The South Carolina Boeing plant where President Donald Trump spoke about saving American jobs is laying off almost 200 workers, the company says. 

Boeing’s South Carolina assembly plant has notified employees that they will be off the company's payrolls from 25 August, company spokeswoman Lori Guntr told The Independent.

So is everybody tired of all of this "winning" that Trump promised us yet?

John Oliver challenges Donald Trump's ability to keep his promise to bring back coal jobs and it is glorious.

Courtesy of the LA Times:  

Setting aside the "fact that [coal] is environmentally catastrophic," Oliver argued that Trump is less concerned with helping coal miners than in bolstering the coal industry -- two groups whose interests do not always align. With assistance from a giant talking squirrel, naturally, he focused on "the divide that can exist between a coal company’s interests and those of its workers." 

Oliver conceded that while coal jobs declined under President Obama, it was merely the continuation of a decades-long decline caused by a number of factors, including declining use and mechanization. 

These jobs have been disappearing "at roughly the same rate as careers in the zeppelin industry and babies named Adolf." 

Oliver has done some amazing segments on The Last Word, but I have to say that this was one of his very best.

Made even more so by the fact that he was threatened with a lawsuit by coal mining CEP Bob Murray telling him not to air it.

Once again Oliver delivers solid journalism interwoven with genuinely funny jokes a to tell a complicated story in an interesting and entertaining manner.

Excellent job and I cannot recommend it enough.

Alaska now has the highest unemployment rate in the country. Gee, lucky us.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

Alaska's unemployment rate is now the highest in the country. 

The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in May was 6.7 percent, according to preliminary numbers from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. 

That's up just slightly from April's 6.6 percent. Nationally, the unemployment rate last month was 4.3 percent, a 16-year low. 

Alaska came in at No. 51 after all other states and the District of Columbia, according to numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Jesus we're not even just in 50th place, we are at 51st place after DC.

I imagine if we suddenly decided to make Puerto Rico a state that we would then slip to 52nd.

The article goes on to explain that due to the seasonal nature of much of the work up here, that our unemployment numbers are always high and hard to calculate, but I would argue that there is definitely something different happening up here right now.

My job is typically recession proof and pretty stable, but lately even I have had to deal with a lack of supports and services that I rely on to do my job effectively.

There is very little in the way of negotiating power for employees and all over the state folks are seeing overtime and benefits cut from businesses that have always been seen as great places to work.

This may in part be due to the oil money drying up, or simply due to too many years of Republican control, but right now things are getting tight.

In other words if you were thinking that now is the time to move to the Last Frontier, I would suggest you put those plans on the back burner.

Last night Bill Maher addressed progress and the jobs we will never, and should never, see again.

I thought last night's show was pretty entertaining, though I could have done without that Breitbart apologist coming on and attempting to suggest that his website does the country a service by covering the news stories that the MSM will not cover.

In other words the fake ones.

However apparently he got schooled by intelligence analyst Malcom Nance who demanded an apology for a false article on Breitbart that resulted in he and his family receiving 31 death threats. 

White House leaks claim that Donald Trump called General Mike Flynn at 3 AM to ask whether it was a strong or weak dollar that was good for the US economy.

"Yeah, I'm going to save the economy. Just as soon as I figure out how the damn thing works."

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one? 

So he made a call ― except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident. 

Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead. 

Trump was not thrilled with that response ― but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at 3 a.m., according to one of Flynn’s retellings ― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.

Remember this is the guy who is going to dramatically increase jobs and save the economy.

Kind of heard to imagine if he does not understand such a basic premise, and if he continues going to people who have no expertise economics.

It should be noted that there are numerous news articles discussing the unprecedented number of leaks coming from his administration, and even this article suggests that the people working for Trump who are essentially terrified at his lack of experience and extreme impulsiveness:

Unsurprisingly, Trump’s volatile behavior has created an environment ripe for leaks from his executive agencies and even within his White House. And while leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic, Trump’s 2-week-old administration has a third category: leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president’s conduct.

I know I have said this before, but just in case you missed it, yeah....we're fucked. 

US Solar energy companies now employ more people than coal, gas, and oil combined.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

Solar energy in the US employs more people than traditional coal, gas and oil combined, a report has found, in a revelation that could undermine Donald Trump’s argument that green energy isn’t good for the economy. 

The latest report from the US Department of Energy (DOE) reveals solar energy accounts for the largest proportion of employers in the Electric Power Generation sector, with wind energy the third largest, while the coal industries have declined in the past 10 years. 

Solar energy employed 374,000 people over the year 2015-2016, making up 43 per cent of the sector’s workforce, while the traditional fossil fuels combined employed 187,117, making up just 22 per cent of the workforce, according to the report. 

“Proportionally, solar employment accounts for the largest share of workers in the Electric Power Generation sector. This is largely due to the construction related to the significant build out of new solar generation capacity,” the report states. 

Look a fast growing industry that promises more jobs,  a guaranteed return for investors, and no negative impact on the environment.

Gee if only our country were run by a smart businessman type who recognized a great opportunity for economic growth.

Jobless claims are the lowest in 43 years. And yet we are replacing the guy that made that happen.

You're welcome folks.

Courtesy of KRQE News: 

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in more than 43 years, another sign that most American workers enjoy job security. 

THE NUMBERS: The Labor Department said Thursday that 234,000 Americans sought jobless aid, a drop of 15,000 from the previous week and lowest since November 1973. The four-week average, which is less volatile, fell by 10,250 to 246,750, also the lowest since November 1973. The total number of people receiving unemployment benefits was 2.05 million, down 7.7 percent from a year earlier. 

THE TAKEAWAY: Unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs. They have now come in below 300,000 for 98 straight weeks.

Remember this is the President that the Republicans accuse of screwing up the country.

And today he is leaving and we are welcoming a guy who is famous for not paying the people who work for him.

We are so fucked. 

Final tally, President Obama created 11.3 million jobs.

You're welcome America.

Courtesy of CNN Money: 

The final tally is in: 11.3 million new jobs were created under President Obama. 

The president is claiming a big victory on getting Americans back to work again. 

"Businesses that were bleeding jobs unleashed the longest streak of job creation on record," Obama wrote in a letter to the American people this week. 

He's right: The economy has added jobs for 75 straight months, although his overall jobs gains aren't as strong as some prior presidents.

Sure other Presidents had more success at creating jobs, but then those guys did not enter office with the country losing 800,000 jobs a month, and hurtling towards a second Great Depression.

Nor did they have to contend with an opposition party that was determined to undermine EVERY SINGLE policy that they put forward.

In light of all that President Obama's achievement is historic.

Megyn Kelly jumps ship and leaves Fox for NBC News.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

Megyn Kelly is signing off on Fox News to join rival NBC News. 

The popular cable network personality is joining the peacock network, where she will anchor a new, one-hour daytime program, Andrew Lack, chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, said in a statement today. 

As part of a broad, multi-year deal, Kelly will also anchor a new Sunday evening news magazine show and contribute to NBC’s breaking news, political and special events coverage.

“Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career” Lack said. “She’s demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and we’re lucky to have her.” 

NBC said details on Kelly's duties will be announced in the coming months.

I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that those details involve truckloads of money.

I have developed a little grudging respect for Kelly since she took on Donald Trump early in the campaign season but since it was she who once suggested that Sarah Palin sue me, I don't see myself ever becoming a huge fan.

Personally I will be interested to see how much of Kelly's partisanship depends on which news outlet employs her.

Remember she was all in on that war on Christmas, vociferously attacked Hillary Clinton, and spent the last eight years lobbing insults at the Democrats without any signs of remorse.

So is she suddenly going to embrace liberal politics, or is she going to remain apolitical and simply report the news dispassionately?

A little perspective.

Actually I think when all was said and done it was only a little over 700 jobs and he spent millions ins tax breaks and incentives to "save" them.

Rachel Maddow reveals what we kind of already knew, Trump voters are really, REALLY stupid!

Now it starts to make sense...a series of findings from new @ppppolls cited now on @maddow
In a series of tweets...

— Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd) December 9, 2016

2. Stock market rose 11,666 points under Obama, but 39% of Trump voters think Dow is DOWN under @POTUS@ppppolls @maddow pic.twitter.com/Cx684knA7j

— Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd) December 9, 2016

3. Unemployment fell in half under Obama, but yet 67% of Trump voters think unemployment went up!@ppppolls @maddow pic.twitter.com/oFrW7fCh5o

— Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd) December 9, 2016

4. Incredibly, 40% of Trump voters think Trump won popular vote (though of course Clinton did)@ppppolls @maddow pic.twitter.com/U3Jc3htL3G

— Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd) December 9, 2016

5. 50% of all voters approved of Obama, yet only FIVE PERCENT of Trump voters approve of @POTUS @ppppolls @maddow pic.twitter.com/0td3cV6NHH

— Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd) December 9, 2016

6. Most incredibly (maybe) 29% of Trump voters don't think California's vote should be included in popular vote@ppppolls @maddow pic.twitter.com/uBjmsuRTMO

— Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd) December 9, 2016

If you visit the Maddow Blog you will also find these fun facts: 

Voter Fraud: Even Trump’s lawyers concede there was no voter fraud in the presidential election, but PPP found that 60% of Trump voters apparently believe “millions” of illegal ballots were cast for Clinton in 2016 – which isn’t even close to resembling reality. (A slight correction here. While the vast majority of people do not think there was voter fraud, there is a growing number of us who suspect election fraud.)


Soros Conspiracy Theory: A whopping 73% of Trump voters believe George Soros is paying anti-Trump protesters – though in reality, George Soros is not paying anti-Trump protesters.

All of this data was based on a PPP poll that Rachel shared last night.

Which of course means it is made up of those facts and figures that Trump supporters find so confusing and mistrust completely.

And that is part of the problem, because as Rachel pointed out in her show last night it is ONLY Trump supporters who misunderstood the facts this completely.

Even third party voters, or those who did not vote at all, had a better grasp of the facts.

But Trump supporters are in almost a completely fact free bubble which makes it virtually impossible for their minds to be changed, and also seems to make them highly suggestible to anything that Trump says, tweets, or has a surrogate say on his behalf.

In other words for them the only truth is the "Trump truth."

And you thought you were frightened of these people before. 

A reminder that President Obama brought the jobs back after the LAST Republican president damn near destroyed the economy.

Courtesy of CNN:

The U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department reported Friday, and the unemployment rate fell sharply to 4.6% from 4.9% in October. 

It's the lowest rate since August 2007. 

Unemployment has been at or below 5% for nearly a year as more people have returned to the job market and hiring has maintained momentum. 

November was the 74th consecutive month America added jobs. 

"The positive momentum we've seen in the labor market is continuing as 2016 comes to a close," says Sam Bullard, senior economist at Wells Fargo.

Even IF Donald Trump were not a fucking train wreck, which we know he is, the Republicans are histrionically bad at dealing with the economy and driving down unemployment.

Any Trump voter who thought they were voting to bring more jobs back, must have been living in a cave for the last twenty or thirty years.

It should also be pointed out that the best job growth of all time was under President Bill Clinton, and we had the opportunity to put the person who was his co-president in the White House and failed to do so.

Just keep this in mind the first time some Republican starts bitching that jobs are disappearing under president Trump, and then tries to lay the blame at the feet of President Obama.

President Obama points out that the Americans who were disappointed with his presidency and came out to vote for Trump were the folks the Republicans would not let him help.

Courtesy of Politico: 

President Barack Obama blamed congressional Republicans on Tuesday for blocking his efforts to address the economic concerns of the American people before President-elect Donald Trump and others exploited it for political gain. 

“And frankly that was — that's been my agenda for the last eight years,” Obama said at a joint news conference with Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens. “I think raising wages, investing in infrastructure, making sure that people have access to good education that equip them for the jobs of the future, those are all agenda items that would help alleviate some of the economic fractures and dislocations that people are experiencing.”

That was the objective all along wasn't it?

To undermine Obama's presidency and keep it from being successful so that you could then convince disappointed voters to support your candidate. 

It doesn't make any difference how much you add to the American people's suffering, or block them from receiving any kind of relief, just so long as they then become desperate enough to believe your bullshit.

Anybody who does not think that the Obama administration was trying to help ALL Americans, is either a complete idiot, an internet troll, or a Trump supporter.

That's right, nobody ever sheds a tear for the lost Blockbuster jobs.

So I saw this the other day on Reddit, and like a lot of you I thought it was pretty funny.

But then I started to think that it was also a great commentary on progress and the importance that folks place on only certain lost jobs from certain industries.

Now I was not sure if Blockbuster ever really had a workforce of 60,000, but as it turns out it did: 

At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster had 60,000 employees and 9,000 stores worldwide with a market value of $5 billion and revenues of $5.9 billion. 

So the meme is accurate in that regard.

However its larger point is that changes in technology, consumer tastes, and even government regulations often means the loss of certain jobs that communities have relied upon.

The example that always occurs to me is the impact that automobiles had on the buggy manufacturers, not to mention the ranchers who raised horses to pull them, and the farmers who grew hay to feed those horses.

That is at least three industries that suffered in the wake of the new technology, and yet I would bet that very, very few of us are sorry that those advances were made.

So yes coal miners are going to lose their jobs, and in the short run that is going to cause a negative economic impact to those families and to the states that rely on that industry.

However in a hundred years from now will any of our great, great grandchildren REALLY shed a tear for the coal industry or regret the move toward renewable clean energy sources?

No, I seriously doubt that they will.

Besides that you can bet that in a hundred years Netflix will have gone the way of Blockbuster and there will be some new entertainment giant that has taken its place. (Probably one that sends movies and television shows straight into our brains via microchips we will have surgically implanted for that very purpose.)

So yes progress will continue forward, and I am sure that politicians will continue to argue against it for the sake of their constituents still laboring in the soon to be obsolete industries, but that does not mean it will not happen. Nor does it mean that it should not happen.

By the way, where is my damn flying car?