Donald Trump gave a huuuuge economic policy speech today in Detroit, MI., hoping to stem the massive hemorrhaging his campaign has felt since both political conventions ended last month
Trump actually used his teleprompter and made some concessions to the establishment wing of the GOP by reshaping his tax plans so they conform more in line with Speaker Ryan's vision.
However, Trump also made many false claims throughout, which included saying that Democrats controlled all branches of government in Detroit, NAFTA killed the auto industry, Hillary Clinton will raise taxes on the middle class, the election will be rigged, and Obamacare killed two million jobs in America.
And he also harped on a new standard for conservatives, that of the "real" unemployment rate. Trump said that "the five percent figure is one of the biggest hoaxes in modern American politics."
Actually, it is not!
As Josh Zumbrun points out in his WSJ piece: Donald Trump Is Right: About 42% of Americans Are Unemployed (If You Include My 88-Year-Old Grandma)
If you really want to get that 42% unemployment rate down, however, you need all these 93 million “unemployed” people — the high school kids, the college students, the stay-at-home moms and dads, the disabled, even my 88-year-old grandma—to stop lollygagging and go get a job.
Do you remember ever hearing Republicans discuss the "real' unemployment rate when George Bush was in office"? I think not, but they created this talking point to undermine Obama's economy after inheriting Bush's global financial collapse.
Trump focused on the "real" unemployment rate and said, "The Obama-Clinton agenda of tax, spend and regulate has created a silent nation of jobless Americans. Home ownership is at its lowest rate in 51 years.
Nearly 12 million have been added to the food stamp rolls since President Obama took office. Another nearly 7 million Americans were added to the ranks of those in poverty.
We have the lowest labor force participation rates in four decades. 58 percent of African-American youth are either outside the labor force or not employed.
1 in 5 American households do not have a single member in the labor force. These are the real unemployment numbers – the five percent figure is one of the biggest hoaxes in modern American politics."
It would help Trump's economic vision if he thought about the people that actually were capable of working instead of focusing on high school kids, college students, stay-at-home moms and dads and the disabled!
UPDATE: I almost forgot to mention that Trump is very beholden to his team of economic advisors.
Trump's "economic advisory council" turns out to be a bunch of rich guys making plans to save themselves money. Go figure:
After spending months scolding his rivals for being beholden to their financial backers, Donald Trump unveiled an economic advisory council last week — and filled it with some of his biggest donors.
Of the 13 men — and they are all men — that Trump touted as economic advisers for their “unparalleled experience and success,” five are major donors whose families combined to give Trump’s campaign and his joint fundraising account with the Republican Party more than $2 million. Two more have been pursued for campaign contributions.
His critics are not amused:
Steve Deace, an influential conservative activist in Iowa and anti-Trump radio host, said he was not surprised that Trump was granting his biggest donors titles and insider access. But he was still angry.
“It is complete and total hypocrisy,” Deace said.
“He got a lot of mileage out of taking advantage of a lot of low-information voters who are rightfully frustrated that government left them behind,” Deace said of Trump’s claims during the primary that he was a self-funding billionaire who could not be bought. “They were an easy mark for a P.T. Barnum con man.”
And this too:
Trump’s new economic team leans heavily on Wall Street investors and hedge-fund managers, despite Trump's railing against them during the early parts of his presidential campaign.
“The hedge fund guys didn't build this country. These are guys that shift paper around. And they get lucky," Trump said last year on CBS’ "Face the Nation." "Look, they're energetic. They're very smart. But a lot of them, it's, like, they're paper pushers. They make a fortune. They pay no tax. It's ridiculous, OK?"
