Thankful for a strong economy

The United States economy added 266,000 jobs in November, it was reported, greatly surpassing economists’ predictions of only a 187,000-positive monthly job gain. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also indicated the national unemployment rate fell to a half-a-century low of 3.5 percent.

These are clear signs that the United States is powering through an otherwise global slowdown, economists say. America’s 31 million small businesses are expanding.

More than 7 million jobs have been created under President Donald Trump and almost 160 million people are working - the highest amount in our nation’s history, says Small Business Administration Regional Administrator Tom Salisbury, who oversees the operations of the U.S. Small Business Administration throughout its Great Plains Region of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa.

BLS revisions also added a net total gain of 41,000 jobs for September and October, bringing the three-month average positive job growth gain statistic to 205,000, a 10-year high. 

Further, the average monthly job growth figure for 2019 jobs is a net positive of 180,000 according to the BLS. Since 2017, 2.1 million prime-age workers have joined the labor force.

According to the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University, Kansans have benefitted and continue to benefit from these trends.

Its October Kansas Employment Forecast said, “Total employment in Kansas grew 0.9 percent in 2018 to about 1,415,800 workers, which added more than 12,000 new workers to the Kansas economy. 

The growth was broad-based, with all major sectors of the economy adding jobs. This marked a notable upswing in the Kansas economy after growing by less than 4,000 in 2016 and 2017 combined. Kansas’ unemployment rate continued its eight year-long trend of decline in 2018 to reach 3.4 percent, the lowest level for the state in 20 years.’’

December marks two years since President Trump signed the landmark Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) into law, putting the focus back on the economy and its job creators - small businesses. 

As a result, unemployment has reached historic low levels and unemployment in minority groups such as African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans have reached their lowest levels ever.

Small businesses are responding to  President Trump’s TCJA’s economic incentives and increased options for health coverage, international trade and training program expansions by entering new global markets, raising wages and hiring more employees.

It is amazing what the U.S. economy can do when the sitting president comes from a business background, instead of a political one.

I just want to tell my Republican and Democrat Congress people to get off President Trump’s back. Don’t like his rhetoric or style? Tune it out. That’s what I try to do.

Economically, President Trump has already done more for the U.S. economy than the last four presidents combined and that is what matters most to me at this time.

If the Republican and Democrat Congress people were smarter, I think they’d realize that working with Trump, instead of impeaching him, will bring them some trickle-down credit of their own. The real trouble with Trump, I think, is that he makes all the Congress people (Republicans and Democrats alike) nervous about what he might reveal about them next. Too bad for them.

Finally, in my view, we have a president who knows how to work for the benefit of the U.S. people. He’s certainly not perfect, but no president ever has been.

President Harry Truman once said, “Show me a politician who got rich while in office and I’ll show you a crook.’’

At Christmas, let’s be thankful for a strong U.S. economy.

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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