28 million Americans collecting unemployment -- that's a depression !

First the good news:

  There had been 32 million

Americans collecting 

unemployment.

Now there are 28 million.

The unemployment rate

is an important indicator

about the health 

of an economy, but so is

labor force participation 

and Real GDP growth.

When the unemployment rate 

was very low, President Trump

bragged repeatedly about 

it ... even as Real GDP growth

was only slightly better 

than under Obama (after the 

2007 recession ended) 

in mid-2009)
e ... and Obama

had the worst average 

economic growth 

since World War II.

I ignore his first six months

because Obama was handed 

a recession that was not 

his fault.

Trump's slightly 

faster Real GDP growth

was boosted with a huge

corporate tax cut in 2018

( more deficit spending )

that I opposed, saying

US corporations faced

US taxes no higher than 

other developed nations,

when you counted value

added taxes the 

other developed nations

have, but we do not, 

a fact that Trump ignored.

We are in hard times now,

and the unemployment

rate is obviously huge.

The Bureau of Labor 

Statistics counts people

receiving state unemployment

benefits as unemployed ...

but ignores people receiving 

the new federal unemployment 

benefits for contract employees,

sometimes called gig workers,

or 1099 workers.

Include ALL the people 

collecting unemployment, 

and the unemployment rate 

goes from the 10% reported 

last Friday, to 17.5%, (as of 

one day earlier), down from 

a peak of 20%.

Professional economists 

often miss this reality, 

partially because many 

COVID layoffs are people

waiting to go back to work,

NOT looking for a new job,

so they get deleted from

the labor force, 

and they are not 

considered to be 

unemployed, 

at least by the Bureau

of Labor Statistics.

Assuming the 

28 million people

actually collecting 

unemployment 

compensation

are a good proxy

for the actual 

unemployment rate, 

the US economy

is in a depression,

being held back 

by state governors'

fear of COVID-19

(or their lust for power).

Meanwhile, if they think

it is necessary to defeat

Trump on election day,

I believe that many

wealthy Democrats will 

avoid buying stocks, and 

some may even sell stocks

they had not planned to sell,

to temporarily tank stock

market averages ... simply

to hurt President Trump.

Remember that Trump's

two primary bragging points 

were the low unemployment

rate, which is history, and the

high stock market averages,

which are still here.

I heard Trump

bragging on TV 

about how fast 

the US economy

is bouncing back

from the COVID-19

crash.

It is not.

For president Trump:

 Once a cheerleader,

always a cheerleader.