June 17, 2011
Readers of the Washington Post article on a meeting between a group of business leaders and President Obama’s chief of staff William Daley must be wondering how the Post knew that the executives were “exasperated,” as the Post told readers in the third paragraph.
The Post told readers that the executives had complaints over environmental regulations and stalled “free-trade deals.” (What the Post describes as a “free-trade deal” would be described as a “trade deal” by neutral reporters rather than advocates. These deals have little to do with creating free trade between the countries involved.)
Of course businesses will always want more profit and if they looking “exasperated” helps them get their way with a weak president and a gullible media, they will look as exasperated as possible. In reality, the profit share of income is at record highs, so environmental regulations of the Obama administration and the stalled trade deals are not having too much of a negative impact on the bottom line.
The article also described the May jobs report as “surprisingly glum.” While it was glum, there was nothing surprising about it to people who follow the economy. There was considerable evidence of weakness in the economy and the labor market prior to the release of the report, most importantly a jump in the number of weekly unemployment claims to averages well above 400,000. This number of claims is inconsistent with strong job growth.
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