Alternative Visions - Jobs Report, Infrastructure Status & CBO on US Deficit

Dr. Rasmus dives into the details of the latest US jobs report, showing how the 943,000 new jobs for July is grossly distorted by seasonality adjustment bias by hundreds of thousands over-estimated. Why there are still 17m jobless (not 8.7m) and the unemployment rate is really 10.5%, not 5.4%. In the second half of the show, the current state of Infrastructure spending negotiations is reviewed. Why the Senate version, to be voted on this weekend, is actually the proposals of McConnell and the Republicans from the beginning, with only $500B new money spending on mostly traditional projects of roads, bridges, etc. The show continues with a brief assessment of the Congressional Budget Office’s released estimate of a $3T budget deficit for the current fiscal year, due by far to tax and revenue causes rather than government social program spending. Why we are beginning to witness ‘creeping austerity’ as social program spending funds in the Covid Relief Act of March 2021 are being cut or diverted to other areas. Rasmus concludes the show with a comment why 2021 may be a déjà vu repeat of the policy and economic recovery trajectory of 2020.