Economist Stephen Moore, founding president of the Club For Growth, must give some credit where it's due regarding the Biden administration.
Friday's double report of the United States economy adding 528,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate dropping to pre-pandemic lows of 3.5% should be acknowledged, but not overly celebrated.
Moore points out for starters, according to reports, the July economy picked up nearly 200,000 jobs from last month. However, 71,000 full-time positions were lost altogether, 384,000 part-time positions were added, and 92,000 people picked up a second job, presumably to help make ends meet.
But "[528,000 jobs is] a blockbuster number, no doubt about it," Moore told Newsmax on Friday afternoon, while appearing on "John Bachman Now" with co-hosts John Bachman and Bianca de la Garza. One caveat, he added: "This recession is not a 'jobs' recession, it's a cost-of-living recession. People don't have enough money to buy the things they normally buy."
Moore, who recently authored the book, "Trumponomics," which detailed the economic philosophies of the Trump presidency, says that due to high inflation (9.1% for June) and surging prices for proteins at the grocery store, the average American still doesn't have enough resources to take care of the "essentials" in life.
As an anecdote, Moore noticed during a recent vacation that people weren't going to supermarkets for groceries. Rather, they were doing their primary shopping at "dollar" stores.
"The average family, in the last year, has lost about $4,000 in purchasing power," Moore said. "This is causing real problems for the people at the bottom of the economic ladder."
Purchasing-power obstacles could become more pervasive in the coming months, Moore reasons, if the Democratic Party goes through with the "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022."
When discussing the Democrats' bill with fellow economists, Moore claims there are tangible concerns of the U.S. economy losing 1 million jobs per year. His group also worries about people making $75,000 or less no longer being "motivated" to work — because the new legislation is "loaded up on welfare programs."
The new bill also could be devastating to the manufacturing sector and coal industry, Moore said.
"I thought we wanted jobs coming back to the United States," Moore rhetorically wondered, before taking Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to task on legislation which acknowledges him as a contributor.
"How in the world can Joe Manchin, in good conscience, vote for a bill that destroys one of the No. 1 industries in his state? I don't understand it," Moore said.
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