LOL The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page tries to intimidate the Fed while putting lipstick on a pig

 The chutzpah of these people.

They mince the data for five paragraphs and then spring a zinger in the last one. 

Total nonfarm was up only 29,000 seasonally adjusted in September, but civilian employment was up 406,000 you see.

 

A Burst of New Workers in September

Wall Street Journal 

 

The labor force grew by 485,000, and most of those found work.

 

... The labor report should have no bearing on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision later this month. In any case, the Fed should stand pat this close to an election, as we’re confident Chairman Kevin Warsh understands.

 

Meanwhile:

 

... the threshold for a statistically significant change in the household survey is about 650,000. ... 

 

But we can play the game, too.

 

The civilian employment level seasonally adjusted is certainly higher than when Trump was elected in November 2024, but what The Wall Street Journal won't say is that civilian employment is still lower than when Trump took office in January 2025, and still lower now than it was for most of 2025.

 

The positive change to the civilian employment level of 2025 is yesterday's news. We've had nine consecutive months of negative change in 2026. 

 

It hasn't been a booming economy for employment since Christmas. And in fact it has been contracting.

 

 

ROFLMAO III: A higher percentage of the foreign born work in Sep 2026 than when Trump was elected in Nov 2024, at the expense of natives

 Trump makes America great again for foreign born workers at the expense of native born workers!

Three strikes and you are OUT, Buddy!

Red lines are Nov 2024. 

 

 

ROFLMAO some more: More foreign born still work in Sep 2026 than when Trump was elected in Nov 2024

 Red line is Nov 2024.

65.0% of people 20-24 years old worked any job in Sep 2026

A lot more of this population worked in the past.

 

36.2% of people 55 and over worked any job in Sep 2026

Employment for people 55 and over is cyclical, peaking in the spring and the fall as this group tends to head south for the winter to beat the cold and north for the summer to beat the heat.

Employment for this group hit its lowest level outside the pandemic in twenty years in July 2026 with just 35.5% working any job. 

 

80.9% of people 25-54 years old worked any job in Sep 2026

This population is working close to its past potential. 

Just 30.4% of teens 16-19 years of age worked any job in Sep 2026

 This population needs to be shipped off to the factories and the fields.

 

Best Orwell economy ever: 48.9% had a full time job in September 2026, 49.0% in 3Q2026

 

In July 1978 60% of teenagers 16-19 years old worked, but in August 2026 only 32.8% do

Bring back the cult of work.

 

 

There were 25.89 million prime working age people 25-54 years of age in America just like Abdul who didn't work in August 2026, but Abdul says we have a cult of work

 We have 11.76 million teenagers 16-19 years old, 7.45 million college kids 20-24 years old, 25.89 million core adults 25-54 years old, and 67.63 million people 55 or older, all of whom did not work in August 2026.

That's over 112 million eating but not working.

They can't all work, obviously, but if each group lived up to its own past peak performance, 13.27 million more across all groups could in fact be working who are not working.

That 13.27 million more working is just 11.8% more.

GDP sucks in part because we aren't working up to our past potential.

As I incessantly point out, the key to a happy life is a full time job, because it allows you to arbitrage it for a car, a home, a spouse, and children.

Peak full time in America was in July 2000 when 54.67% had a full time job. In August 2026 just 49.14% did. The difference between those two points at current population is an extra 15.2 million full time jobs which we don't presently have.

America is a much bigger place now than in July 2000, too, by 63 million in civilian non-institutional population. Shouldn't that also make us stronger? 

Do we really think an extra 15 million out of 112 million is dreaming the impossible dream?  

We need leaders who don't think so.

But this guy . . . 

 

 

Who's not working in August 2026?

Over 112 million, that's who: 

67.2% of teenagers 16-19 years old: 11.8 million

33.7% of the college-aged 20-24 years old: 7.5 million

19.9% of prime working age adults 25-54 years old: 25.9 million

64.1% of the population 55 years old or older: 67.6 million.

Trump's IRS turns a blind eye to illegal alien employment

 

Exposed: Illegal Alien Employment Workaround

Victoria Manning, Restoration News

 

Federal law prohibits employers from knowingly hiring an unauthorized immigrant and from employing someone without work authorization. Yet a growing network of nonprofits and universities is teaching the illegal alien community exactly how to get around the law, one Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) at a time.

The IRS only cares about collecting taxes—illegal or not. It all starts with the ITIN.

Immigrants Rising, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is one of several organizations Restoration News has uncovered that openly help undocumented immigrants bypass work authorization requirements. It is just one example in our investigative series on the topic.

... Even though foreigners should not work in the United States without work authorization, an ITIN can be used to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to establish a business. The IRS is aware of this workaround—and looks away.

 

... The IRS states that an ITIN does not “authorize you to work legally in the U.S.” However, you can “apply for an ITIN regardless of immigration status.” Uncle Sam wants its tax money, even if the employment violates work authorization laws.

 

The process is severely flawed. Lawful immigrants who follow the lengthy and costly process to come to America legally often still must wait in line to receive proper work authorization. Yet the IRS turns a blind eye to illegal aliens who circumvent the law to take jobs away from legal migrants and citizens.

 

The IRS allows third-party groups known as Certifying Acceptance Agents (CAAs) to process paperwork and certify the identities of applicants to obtain an ITIN. Nearly anyone can become a CAA—just complete the online training, apply, and wait for approval. Illegal aliens can then go to a CAA to obtain an ITIN without ever having to interact directly with the IRS. A student identification card (for individuals under age 24), a foreign driver’s license, and a foreign birth certificate are acceptable documents to verify a person’s identity for an ITIN. No need to prove legal status, and those documents don’t have to be sent to the IRS. They remain with the CAA.

 

... The IRS should stop treating tax compliance as a substitute for legal status. And the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department should start asking why elite universities and tax-exempt organizations are functioning as distribution channels for a workaround to federal law. 

This story is all excited about that little squiggle uptick on the right lol

 

The Real Economy: Manufacturing Jobs

Oren Cass, Commonplace

 

Joe Biden manufacturing employment never looked so good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Every age group in America has lost its work ethic to one degree or another, for one reason or another

The percentage of each age group's population which works is in structural decline:

Teens since 1978 (get a haircut and get a real job); 

College kids since 1989 (because they went to college more and more after that, duh);

Core adults 25-54 since the late 1990s (they keep getting knocked down but they mostly keep getting back up again 👍 -- this is a huge tranche with some people carrying the load more than others, and you know who you are);

Americans 55 and over since 2019 (the Great Recession didn't kill 'em, from which they made more than a nice recovery, but they are not going to recover from the pandemic era for decades to come because Peak Baby Boom turned 62 that year).

  

 

Trump is too stupid to take the win handed to him by +162k payrolls in August

  New York Fed’s Williams says yield surge due to strong economic prospects

Analysis: Lower Treasury yields could require a weaker economy. Trump won’t fix them 

... The rise in real yields is “more of a reflection of the strength of the economy,” New York Federal Reserve President John Williams told CNBC Wednesday. Some people want to read the rise in yields as dragging on the economy, but that logic is backward, he said. 

“It’s not really about financial conditions affecting the economy. It’s more about the economy affecting financial conditions,” Williams said.  

The flip side of Williams’ analysis is that it may take an economic slowdown for borrowing costs to cool. But that isn’t a solution anyone would want to root for.

 

This will never not be funny

They hate you with the heat of 1,000 suns. 

 U.S. payrolls rose 162,000 in August, much more than expected; unemployment rate at 4.1%

 

I don't know how you crash something that was so tiny already, but Trump found a way

 Manufacturing employment as a percentage of population:

 

Golden Age NOT: Just 49.14% had a full time job in August 2026, the second lowest figure for an August in 11 years

Both Biden and Trump have had this figure above 50%, but even that has been pathetically weak.

 

Compared to the past, 50% should be the floor, not the ceiling.

 

I remain disgusted with the complacency of both political parties, as demonstrated by the complete absence of urgency about the one thing which is the very ticket to the middle class. 

 

August 2016: 49.59%

August 2017: 49.87%

August 2018: 50.36%

August 2019: 50.94%

August 2020: 47.44%

August 2021: 49.18%

August 2022: 50.58%

August 2023: 50.68%

August 2024: 49.98%

August 2025: 49.44%

August 2026: 49.14%

 

 

Well, that's not supposed to be happening in the new Golden Age

Private payrolls rose by 38,000 in August, less than expected, ADP reports 

 ... Manufacturing lost 17,000 jobs, professional and business services was off 16,000 and both the natural resources and mining as well as trade, transportation and utilities reported declines of 5,000. ...

Just 30% of teenagers worked in 1H2026

 Whose kids are these anyway?