The mainstream media appears to be all-in on Joe Biden’s reelection. Expect that enthusiasm to color nearly all reporting — especially on the economy.
Take the most recent jobs report, which, we are told, was a stunner. Was it really? Or did the media willfully overlook a number of thorny issues? After all, the idea that the U.S. created 353,000 jobs in January flies in the face of numerous other data points:
Many companies reported fourth-quarter profits that beat Wall Street expectations, mainly because of “cost-cutting” — aka, layoffs. Did a whole bunch of firms turn on a dime and start hiring right after the end of the year? Firms in tech, the country’s fastest-growing industry, laid off 15,806 people in January. More broadly, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a consultancy that tracks job cuts, reports that last month U.S. firms announced 82,307 cuts, a 136 percent increase from the 34,817 people terminated in December.