We all know what the official, "Everything's fine - you knuckle-dragging rubes just are too stupid to realize it" line is.

Biden's retelling of economic history could win a fiction award: https://t.co/dhtSPAuTrs

— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) May 9, 2024

Here we go again with our lying eyes.

Welp, who's gonna tell POTATUS?

Initial filings for unemployment benefits have hit their highest level since late August 2023, a potential sign that an otherwise robust labor market is changing.

Jobless claims totaled a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ending on May 4, up 22,000 from the previous period and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 214,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. It was the highest claims number since Aug. 26, 2023.

The increase in claims follows a string of mostly strong hiring reports, though hiring in April was light compared with expectations. Also, job openings have been declining amid expectations that the labor market is likely to slow through the year.

The report also showed that continuing claims, which run a week behind, increased to 1.78 million, up 17,000 from the previous week. The four-week moving average of claims, which helps smooth out weekly volatility in numbers, increased to 215,000, up 4,750 from the previous week.

Wall Street was thrilled to death simply because out-of-work people means maybe the Fed will give interest rates a break sooner rather than later. That's all those people are concentrating on right now.

Stocks rose Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average claiming a seventh winning day, as new jobless claims data rekindled hope for Federal Reserve rate cuts later this year.

The 30-stock Dow jumped 331.37 points, or 0.85%, to close at 39,387.76 and notch its longest win streak since a nine-day run in December. The S&P 500 added 0.51% to close at 5,214.08, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.27% and ended at 16,346.26.

...Fresh weekly jobless claims data came in at the highest level since August, raising expectations that central bankers might cut interest rates at some point this year.

...“A bit of softness in the data gives the Fed a window to follow through with its dovish bias,” MRB Partners global strategist Phillip Colmar said, adding that Thursday’s market is taking the claims data as a plus. “A long as bond yields aren’t threatening, it’s a green light. The Fed and the bond market have given a green light together to buy risk, or continue to buy risk.”

Which is all well and good unless you're the one suddenly looking for work in an inflationary economy. 

As I mentioned a week or so ago, all the phony baloney job "gains" every month have all been revised down in subsequent months. Are they going to try to work their manipulative magic on this gruesomeness?

Cynics say "yes." I'm sure an election that looks to be shaping up badly for the home team would have nothing to do with it.

… until the Biden Regime quietly revises the numbers downward in a few weeks. The crooks are manipulating the data to manufacture their fake “great economic comeback” post pandemic. It’s all a facade. One big lie after another!

— LadyPatriot 🍊#Trump2024 (@Pete2Shawn) May 9, 2024

It also goes with out saying - but I'll note it anyway - that the numbers are missing quite a few participants who should be included, but aren't. What they call the "real" unemployment number.

"Apologists for the Biden administration point to the low unemployment rate of 3.9% in April as proof of the economy’s strength. Yet this is a hollow talking point since the real unemployment rate is likely between 6.5 and 7.7%..."
(Article linked in reply) pic.twitter.com/jgYcWu0T9j

— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) May 9, 2024

That number consists of people who don't have a job and aren't looking for whatever reason.

...The shocking reality is that somewhere between 4.7 million and 7 million people who aren’t working today are not included when calculating the unemployment rate. That artificially reduces the figure.

The reason these millions of Americans are uncounted began with the events of 2020.

When the government instituted draconian lockdowns across most of the economy in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, more than 17 million people became unemployed, and an additional 8 million people immediately left the labor force.

Then the pandemic eased. COVID restrictions started to be lifted, life sort of began returning to the new normal, and most people started reentering the workforce. Not everyone came back, though.

...But there were also millions who left the labor market entirely and never returned. As such, they were no longer counted among the unemployed, nor in the labor force. This pushed the unemployment rate down even more.

If those millions of people were to suddenly look for work again, it would greatly increase the labor force, but it would also increase the unemployment rate, at least until those jobseekers found work.

Official government data point to just how many workers are missing from the labor market today. Several metrics show a large gap between their current reading and their pre-pandemic trends. These include the employment level, the number of nonfarm payrolls, the employment-to-population ratio and those not in the labor force.

And there really haven't been any gains even with wage increases, thanks to #Bidenomics.

...While the average American worker’s weekly paycheck has increased $147 from January 2021 through April 2024, those earnings buy $47 less because prices have risen so much faster than incomes.

Shoot, no, they don't want that discussed.

GREATEST ECONOMIC COMEBACK EVER, DAMN YOU

One of the interesting earnings reports that came in today alongside the job losses was Bud Light parent company AB InBev. It's kind of wild to note that after all this time, they have slowed the market share loss rate, but they haven't managed to completely stanch the bleeding yet from the boycott. 

This is really something.

Total volume for Bud Light Parent Company AB Inbev down another 10%.
Probably the most effective boycott in recent history. pic.twitter.com/Rs3cSXiAEN

— Frog Capital (@FrogNews) May 9, 2024

And what a lesson in the power of conservative America when they get their hackles up together. They've lost American market share every single month for over a year and have finally stemmed that slide. But they're still losing.

The Bud Light boycott began a little over a year ago.
AB Inbev has seen declining US sales every month since.
There is no sign of abatement. pic.twitter.com/5hKozVW87m

— Frog Capital (@FrogNews) May 9, 2024

And holy smoking ruins. Bud Light doesn't even make their earnings report materials anymore. There's not a bottle of it in that brands picture.

Bud Light used to be their top seller by a mile.
Not even on the radar any more. pic.twitter.com/cXTsQ3QzXX

— Frog Capital (@FrogNews) May 9, 2024

There's a lesson in the very successful InBev boycott for POTATUS, don't you think?

He's pitching a story we're not buying.

"Bud Lighting" Biden right out the door would be worth raising a glass to.

If we can still afford it by November.