According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures released on Friday, August 1, U.S. employment was at 4.2 percent in July. The U.S., according to economists, still isn’t in a recession, but the BLS report was a disappointment in terms of job creation.
According to BLS data, “Among the unemployed, the number of new entrants increased by 275,000 in July to 985,000. New entrants are unemployed people who are looking for their first job…. In July, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 179,000 to 1.8 million. The long-term unemployed accounted for 24.9 percent of all unemployed people.”
Trump responded angrily to the report, firing BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer and accusing her of “rigging” the data against him.
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In a sobering article published on August 5, Salon’s Chauncey DeVega warns that thanks to “MAGA’s culture of cruelty and gangster capitalism,” Americans are likely to suffer economic pain in a variety of ways in the months ahead — from rising unemployment to inflation to a weakened safety net.”
“On Friday,” DeVega explains, “the bleak economic figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the truth about what is happening in Donald Trump’s America…. Friday’s numbers indicate the likelihood of stronger economic turbulence that would impact all of us, from the middle-class to the men I encountered on the street. They, and so many others like them, no longer have much of a social safety net. In an economy strangled by inflation, low wages and rising inequality, the number of homeless Americans will almost certainly grow.”
DeVega continues, “The (Trump) Administration seems to be preparing for that possibility. In a grossly underreported story, on July 24, Trump signed an executive order designed to remove people from the streets, including institutionalizing or sending homeless people to mental health or addiction treatment without their consent, marking a policy shift away from 20 years of a housing-first approach.”
To make matters worse, DeVega laments, millions of Americans are expected to lose their health insurance.
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“Based on all available evidence and historical precedent,” DeVega warns, “the Big Ugly Bill, along with the (Trump) Administration’s other cuts to the social safety net, looks likely to trigger a sharp rise in homelessness. The legislation strips away billions of dollars in food assistance. Nursing homes and end-of-life hospice care will face funding shortfalls. With the Big Ugly Bill’s cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, it has been estimated that nearly 12 million Americans will lose their health care. That number will likely rise: In 2026, more than 24 million Americans will see their premiums increase, with some facing spikes as high as 15 percent, according to the nonpartisan health policy and advocacy organization KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation.”
DeVega argues that Trump’s economic policies are designed to promote an “authoritarian” agenda.
“A healthy democracy depends on a humane society — and a robust social safety net. Autocrats and authoritarians know this,” DeVega writes. “That’s why they attack and attempt to destroy social programs. They want to eliminate every possibility of a real social democracy to cement their rule forever. Donald Trump is well on his way.”
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Chauncey DeVega’s full Salon article is available at this link.