“Recession Since 2022: US Economic Income and Output Have Fallen Overall for Four Years” is a Brownstone Institute research paper by Dr. E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and Dr. Peter St. Onge, a fellow with the Mises Institute. It details how the federal government understates inflation, while making wages, profits, and economic growth appear stronger.

Dr. Antoni and Dr. St. Onge use a more accurate measure of inflation than that used by government to uncover the true state of the economy. Their calculations show that the US economy has been in recession since 2022. The government claims that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by approximately 13.7 percent from 2019 through the first half of 2024. When the more accurate inflation number is used, the result is a 2.5 percent decline in GDP.

The federal government’s figures also show the American people’s disposable income increased by 12.9 percent from 2019 through the first half of 2024. However, when the more accurate way of calculating price inflation is used, it shows Americans’ disposable income declined by 2.3 percent. Dr. Antoni and Dr. St. Onge are hardly the first to expose how the government uses doctored statistics to make the economy look stronger. John Williams’s ShadowStats has regularly shown how government manipulates data to underreport unemployment and price inflation.

Government distortions of economic data mislead the people regarding the true state of the economy. They also mislead Congress, the president, and maybe even the Federal Reserve. Until the Audit the Fed bill becomes law, we will not know for sure what data the central bank relies on. Making economic policy decisions based on flawed data enables politicians to ignore the dangers posed by Congress’s refusal to cut federal spending. […]

— Read More: thenewamerican.com

The longtime Democrat contributor listed 33 “actions and policies” that shattered his confidence in the party. Indeed, he wrote, those policies and actions are so destructive that one would think an enemy had infiltrated the country and taken over its leadership.

Released on October 8, the long lament accelerated yesterday after X proprietor Elon Musk reposted the Vigilant Fox’s summary. People viewed the two posts more than 26 million times.

One Bad Policy After Another

Tops on Ackman’s list is President Joe Biden’s “migrant” invasion at the border. That has the full-throated support of Vice President Kamala Harris, who said she can’t think of a single Biden policy she would change.

Biden opened “the borders to millions of immigrants who were not screened for their risk to the country, dumping them into communities where the new immigrants overwhelm existing communities and the infrastructure to support the new entrants, at the expense of the historic residents,” Ackman wrote. […]

— Read More: thenewamerican.com

A transition to it simply “isn’t happening,” says researcher Bjørn Lomborg, of the Copenhagen Consensus Center. The problem?

Such a transition is, first, prohibitively expensive. In fact, Lomborg has estimated, lowering Earth’s temperature just 1/3 of one degree Fahrenheit by 2100 would cost $100 trillion. This makes the endeavor unfeasible.

Second, and counterintuitively, creating “renewable” energy doesn’t replace coal, oil, and gas. It mainly just adds to energy consumption.

Despite this, the world is proceeding with bull-in-a-china-shop energy ambitions, spending $2 trillion annually trying to “transition.” The bottom line, says Lomborg, is that we need a “major policy overhaul.” […]

— Read More: thenewamerican.com

When pressed for the reason why, more than half of them answered, “I didn’t have enough money to pay the bill.”

The New American has diligently covered the decline in the economy, contrary to those in the mainstream media whistling past the graveyard. On September 10, we reported that the U.S. consumer was in deep trouble, according to a report from the New York Fed. But one had to dig deep into the numbers to find the truth.

The U.S. Census Bureau was slightly more forthcoming, reporting that nearly four out of 10 adults in the country were finding it “somewhat” or “very” difficult to pay their household expenses: food, gas, rent, insurance, healthcare, and so on. […]

— Read More: thenewamerican.com

According to The Federalist, FEMA, the agency responsible for coordinating emergency responses to natural disasters, redirected nearly $364 million in 2023 and an additional $650 million in 2024 to the “Shelter and Services Program.” This program, as described on the government’s own website referenced by the outlet, provides humanitarian assistance to non-citizen migrants released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) short-term holding facilities. In collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), officials allocated these funds to support the “orderly and humane release” of migrants. This decision sparked sharp criticism, as prioritizing migrant assistance diverted resources from urgent domestic needs.

“Woke” Transformation of FEMA

One of the entities to pick up the news was America First Legal (AFL), a conservative legal advocacy organization founded by Stephen Miller, a former senior advisor to President Donald Trump.

In a series of posts on X, AFL broke down the FEMA’s apparent shift in priorities under the Biden-Harris administration. For example, AFL argued that FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program has been reshaped to provide funding primarily to “families and individuals encountered by the Department of Homeland Security at the southern border,” also known as illegal migrants. According to AFL, $685 million in taxpayer dollars have been reallocated to fund services for these individuals. One of the posts read, […]

— Read More: thenewamerican.com

U.S. manufacturing activity contracted again in September, and at the same rate compared to last month.

• Demand continues to be weak, output declined….
• New Orders Index remain[ed] in contraction territory….
• New Export Orders Index contract[ed] at a faster rate….
• Backlog of Orders Index stay[ed] in strong contraction territory….
• Output (measured by the Production and Employment indexes) continued in contraction….
• Employment shrunk at a faster rate.

“Business Is Flat”

Business owners surveyed by the ISM were equally candid.

• “Business is flat. Waiting for interest rates to drop and the election outcome in November before we confirm our 2025 plans. Currently planning on a flat 2025.” (Furniture & Related Products)
• “Our sales continue to be flat. Our customers are telling us that although our products perform very well, they are forced to seek lower-cost components to maintain their sales.” (Textile Mills)
• “Sales have slowed this quarter compared to the same time period last year. Adjusting production accordingly.” (Miscellaneous Manufacturing)
• “Not adding new jobs. Automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are starting to slow or cancel orders. The pace is slowing.” (Primary Metals)

[…]

— Read More: thenewamerican.com