The Bureau of Labor statistics released its September jobs report this morning, and the low number of 136,000 new jobs signals a slowing economy. As the Washington Post reports:
"Manufacturing has already entered a decline and - after more than a year of strength - consumer spending is also appearing to soften.
The National Retail Federation warned Thursday that economic uncertainty, new tariffs and fluctuations in the stock market could derail Americans’ spending plans in the run-up to the holidays.
And economists point to other signs, including a manufacturing recession as affecting employers as they struggle to find workers in a tight jobs market." (our emphasis)We noted earlier this week that U.S. factory activity has reached to a 10-year low, reflecting the damage that sociopath and incompetent con man Donald "Rump" Trump's reckless tariff and trade war has had on the manufacturing economy. Those reports on factory activity coupled with the weak jobs creation number for September is expected to drive the stock market down after a volatile week.
Finally, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade deficit widened to nearly $55 billion, with imports outpacing exports, an outcome of Trump's disastrous trade policies.
Trade wars are easy to win, except when you're losing them.
