The overall economic growth rate since the year 2000 has contracted by over 47% from the previous eighteen year period under Reagan, Bush 41 and Clinton

One of the rare instances in human experience where the answer to everything isn't 42

Nine years after bottoming at 47% of population, full-time jobs still run millions behind

In the first half of 2019, full-time has recovered to 50% of population, still well below the previous average cycle high of 51.1%.

In the past full-time has recovered to 50% of population and above after just four years. We are in the ninth year and could easily have 2.7 million more working full-time in the first half of 2019 than we do presently at 50%.

It would take an extra 100,000 full-time jobs a month for another two-plus years straight to make up that difference, which just shows how pathetic it is that people routinely consider current job additions just north of 200,000 a month "strong".

Meanwhile population growth marches on, but those people are not being put to work.

Why continue to import immigrants then?

Why?

Our country is INSANE, doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

Gotta give it to Trump here, his lizard brain has scared the open borders Republicans out of the bushes for everyone to see

They think he is weak (he is), but the Republican base is ready to feed on the flesh of these bastards as much as is the lizard himself.

These Republican traitors don't give a damn about the Constitution, the separation of powers, infringement of those powers by the executive, or anything else.

These are your open borders Republicans in the US Senate, America, pure and simple:

Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Lee of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Marco Rubio of Florida, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and Mr. Jerry Moran of Kansas.

The most notable one is Mitt Romney, since he ran for president on a platform of turning off the immigration magnets. A shape-shifter on just about everything else conservative, this vote proves Romney was never on our side on anything and could never be counted on.

Mr. National Disaster totally chokes like Mitt Romney, signs border bill instead of using veto POWER

I mean he’s so blatantly stupid. 

He’s a punk. 

He’s a dog. 

He’s a pig.

He’s a con. 

A bullshit artist. 

A mutt who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. 

He doesn’t do his homework.

He doesn’t care.  

He thinks he’s gaming society.

Doesn’t pay his taxes. 

He’s an idiot.

Colin Powell said it best. “He’s a national disaster.” 

He’s an embarrassment to this country.

It makes me so angry that this country has gotten to this point that this fool. This bozo. Has wound up where he has.

#metoo

Richard Spencer's cuckery is on display when he attacks Boomer morality when what he really means is Christian morality

Spencer is servile to the hegemony of the status quo just as much as anybody, where publicly attacking religion is still verboten, so he veils it by attaching it to an easier target, a demographic cohort, the new elderly. It's not a coincidence that the godless right and left view the most vulnerable in society as the prime enemies of the good life.

Pace Spencer, the chief impediment to the success of race identity in America isn't ideology. It's capital, stored by the 78 million who own and occupy their homes (73% of whites, 58% of Asians, 47% of Hispanics, 42% of blacks). They don't want violence in the streets in front of their homes no matter what color it takes, whether it comes from Black Lives Matter, Antifa, MS-13, the KKK or Unite the Right. They want law and order. Republicans win when they run on that.

Rush Limbaugh's Whopper of the Day: Trump more popular than Bill Clinton was at same time in presidency

There isn't a single poll at Real Clear Politics at this hour showing Trump at 48% as Limbaugh claims

Obama beat Romney but never got the House back, best case scenario now for Trump

No, until Hillary Clinton the GOP had no path.

Six more years of gridlock is the future, at best.

And to think, he coulda been a contenda.

"I used to love her, but it's all over now."

Hooah Ronna Romney McDaniel to Uncle Mitt: Your comments are disappointing and unproductive

Rand Paul to Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Puritan: Cut the petty holier than thou crap

Ain't gonna happen Senator Paul. There's something in the water up there in Massachusetts that once you drink of it, you're infected forever. Same thing happens with the water in Utah. But hooah anyway.

Rand Paul on Romney: There Will Be A "Backlash" For "Holier Than Thou" Anti-Trump Op-Ed:

I don`t know how it really helps anybody`s cause for people to stand up there like they`re holier than thou. And it`s like, look at me, how virtuous I am. And I`m going to bring down the presidency by criticizing his character in front of the whole nation. It does nobody any good. And, in the end, I think it`s going to look petty, and I think there`s going to be a backlash to this. ...

I question [Trump] on policy when I disagree with him. He knows I have stood up to him. I have talked to him on the phone and he says, "I know where your principles are and I know you can`t move on this particular vote." And we still have a good conversation. And I think that`s different than attacking and trying to go for the jugular of someone`s character. And so I do think it`s different. ...

[I]f there were an election between Donald Trump in a primary and Romney, I think Romney would be wiped out.  

Hooah Newt Gingrich to Mitt Romney: The Senate doesn't care who you used to be

Gingrich to Romney: The Senate Doesn't Care Who You Used To Be:

It is kind of sad. As a freshman, he could have come in, he could have written as the former governor of Massachusetts, his views on Elizabeth Warren running for office. He could have written about the shutdown and offered an idea, such as combining help for the DREAMers with building the wall and securing the border. He could have written about things he knows a great deal about. 

Among whites Trump 2016 underperformed Romney 2012 57%-59% overall, but crushed him with whites in eleven states and in seven to win the presidency

Mitt Romney is back, but he really ought to just zip it. He's a loser.

States where Trump 2016 (wins in red) outperformed Romney 2012 (wins in blue) among whites:

Florida 64%-61%

Indiana 64%-60%

Iowa 54%-47%

Maine 46%-40%

Michigan 57%-55%

Minnesota 50%-49%

Missouri 66%-65%

New Hampshire 48%-47%

New York 51%-49%

Ohio 62%-57%

Wisconsin 53%-51%.

Where Trump underperformed Romney Trump still won the same contests, but also reeled in Pennsylvania which Romney did not. Overall Trump won 10 states to Romney's 4, largely on improved performance among whites.

States where Romney 2012 (wins in blue) outperformed Trump 2016 (wins in red) among whites:

Arizona 66%-54%

California 53%-45%

Colorado 54%-47%

New Jersey 56%-54%

New Mexico 56%-47%

North Carolina 68%-63%

Oregon 44%-42%

Pennsylvania 57%-56%

Virginia 61%-59%

Washington 46%-40%.

Exit polling via CNN.

The US has wasted trillion$ in the Middle East if the president can't fly-in to Iraq like he can to Berlin

Striking a blow for white nationalism on its way out the door, The Weekly Standard informs us Cory Booker is a lot more injun than Elizabeth Warren

See Cory Run:

The country’s racial history is an ever-present issue for Booker, one of only three African American senators, but he wants to see his complicated heritage as a source of communion rather than anger. Some of his ancestors were slaves but several were slave owners—and one was a Confederate soldier. A DNA test revealed that he’s 47 percent African, 45 percent European, and 7 percent Native American (which is about 70 times more Native American than Elizabeth Warren).

And don't forget Mitt Romney now has to be counted on to cooperate

I can just see it now.

Mitt Romney, Lisa Mercowskie and Susan Collins will form the trio of stooges broken by the death of John McCain to stand in the way of Mitch McConnell.

Well, at least Jeff Flake and Bob Corker are out of the equation.

Rasmussen generic Congressional survey has Democrats at 47%, Republicans at 44%, 3% for other, 6% undecided

The stated margin of error is plus or minus two points.

Reported here:

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone and online survey finds that 47% of Likely U.S. Voters would choose the Democratic candidate if the elections for Congress were held today. Forty-four percent (44%) would opt for the Republican. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

Kavanaugh effect evaporates in Rasmussen generic congressional poll, Democrats take 3-point advantage

Democrat 47%

Republican 44%

Other 3%

Undecided 6%

Reported here:

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone and online survey finds that 47% of Likely U.S. Voters would choose the Democratic candidate if the elections for Congress were held today. Forty-four percent (44%) would opt for the Republican. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

Piers Morgan: Trump is kicking Democrats' ass

Piers Morgan, here:

According to the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Trump is now at 47% approval, compared to Obama’s 45% two weeks before the midterm elections in 2010. ...

And I see a President who’s growing stronger by the day.

Trump’s become a political Godzilla, crushing everyone who dares challenge him and bulldozing his way through an agenda that is beginning to pay real dividends.

In less than two years, Trump’s got two nominees onto the Supreme Court, entrenching a Conservative majority.

He’s slashed taxes, and regulations – sparking a boom in the US economy that shows no sign of stopping, a surge in jobs and record low unemployment.

Trump’s forged a peaceful dialogue with North Korea, launched a trade war with China that many think is long overdue, withdrawn from the obviously flawed Iran nuclear deal and Trans-Pacific Partnership, forced Mexico and Canada to update NAFTA, bullied NATO countries into paying their bills, and bombed ISIS out of Iraq and Syria.

He’s also clamped down hard on illegal immigration.

As I write this, a ‘caravan’ of more than 7,000 Central American migrants – most of them from Honduras - is moving towards the Southern border.

They intend trying to enter the United States illegally.

It’s hard to think of a more powerful image to vindicate Trump’s much criticized demand for a new ‘Wall’, isn’t it?

Politico co-founder and so-called journalist John Harris should suspend and fire himself

From the story here:

Both VandeHei and Harris are familiar with how severe the repercussions for opinionated tweets can be. In 2012, when they were running Politico together, the organization suspended and then fired a reporter because of remarks he had made on television and Twitter, including one remark suggesting that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was only comfortable around white people.

In the memo announcing the journalist's suspension, Harris and VandeHei reminded staff that all journalists had a "clear and inflexible responsibility to cover politics fairly and free of partisan bias."

Good comparison of the presidents on GDP by Justin Fox at Bloomberg

Guess Which Presidents Really Oversaw Economic Booms

Fox well reminds his readers that GDP is an inadequate measure in many respects, and gives credit where credit is due even when the numbers don't seem to show it.

His second chart is the better chart since it is a political comparison, which is what this is all about, pegging beginning and end of analysis to fourth quarters when presidents are elected or eclipsed.

He has Kennedy and Johnson first and second (5.5% and 5%), followed by Clinton (3.8%), Reagan 3.6%), Carter (3.2%) and Nixon 3.0%), then IKE (2.5%), then Ford and Bush 41 tied (2.2%), with Obama (1.9%) and Bush 43 (1.8%) bringing up the rear. (Trump so far is seventh, ahead of IKE but behind Nixon, at 2.7%).

A few quibbles.

The data is plenty fine for Truman 1948-1952. He should be included. His performance is the best of them all on a full term basis (5.54%), using the same compound annual growth rate Fox uses. The secret to Truman's success? He slashed government spending in the wind-down from World War II. No one seems to get that. By cutting taxes and not slashing spending, Republicans since Truman only defeat themselves and discredit what works.

Secondly, JFK didn't serve out his first term, Nixon his second. Therefore it makes more sense to view JFK coterminous with LBJ (5.19% together), and Ford with Nixon (2.73%), evaluating them together in two eight year periods of Democrat and Republican political administration respectively, which is what it was.

Third, Fox rounds his numbers, which obscures how close Bush and Obama were in their terrible records (1.83% and 1.88% respectively). 

All in all, though, we come up with similar results: Truman is first (5.54), followed by JFK/LBJ (5.19), Clinton (3.81), Reagan (3.55), Carter (3.19), Nixon/Ford (2.73), IKE (2.52), Bush 41 (2.21), Obama (1.88), and Bush 43 (1.83).

Trump's first year through 4Q2017 is 2.47%. Measured 2Q2017 on 2Q2018 just completed he's at 2.85%.

Only by comparison with the previous sixteen years is this anything to cheer about, but thankfully we have that.