Although it may be news to Democrats, who keep telling us how great the economy is doing, to the average American man and woman the economy doesn't feel particularly great. The polling firm Gallup, who's been keeping a number set for years that's known as the 'Economic Confidence Index, has confidence in the American economy across multiple metrics underwater by a whopping 35%... and as an aside it seems worth noting that the last time the index showed a breakeven point in economic confidence (more than 50% of respondents thought things economic conditioners were good/excellent) was in June of 2020 when it briefly dipped into positive territory before collapsing back into negative numbers (mostly) lower than those seen during the height of the Covid lockdowns.
When faced with such a massive perception by the public of the weakness of the American economy it's only natural to turn to the economists for answers, and what better economist to turn to than Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman. So let's see what Krugman's talking about today, shall we?
On Tuesday Trump will hold a “crime” rally in a notorious white supremacist stronghold. Meanwhile here, according to Jeff Asher, is what has happened to murder over the past few years (the spike was in 2020, when Trump was president) pic.twitter.com/42AR2swji8
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) August 19, 2024
What?! Yes, while economic uncertainty roils the electorate Paul Krugman is spending his time complaining about Donald Trump stopping off in Michigan to give a speech in Howell, which has now been cast as being the spiritual center of white supremacism in America. Notably Howell wasn't a hot bed of natalist rhetoric and hate when Joe Biden visited the city in October of 2021 to give a speech and take a tour of a union training facility there, but now that Trump's coming to town hoo boy that place is basically all KKK members it seems.
How exactly is Howell Michigan such a hotbed of white supremacy, you may ask?
He'll be in Howell, which had some issues in the 70s and 80s (you know, 40-50 YEARS ago). There was a "rally" recently which looked like a Fed Op, it was so laughable. Weird how nobody called it a hotbed of racism when Biden visited for a speech in 2021.
— Whatever (@MIFrenchieMom) August 19, 2024
Were the 80's really 40 years ago? Lordy. But yes, Howell is apparently suddenly known as the KKK capital of America to all of these 'journalists' and 'opinion writers' because a white supremacist owned a farm 16 miles outside of town and held admittedly nasty rallies there with some frequency before his death... in 1992. While George H.W. Bush was President. But Donald Trump's coming to town so it's time to start handwringing about the deep and abiding stain that the city has on it to not so subtly attempt to get a bit of it on Donald Trump too.
Of course there's some more recent stuff as well, such as a recent 'white-supremacist march' that took place in Howell shortly after the announcement of Trump's stop was made, conveniently just in time to remind everybody of the cities bygone connection with these movements! Isn't that convenient!
‘We love Hitler. We love Trump.’: White supremacists march through Howell : White supremacists march through Howell
— Denise - Pamela Denise Long (@PDeniseLong) August 17, 2024
Group hung Nazi and KKK banners on highway overpass
BY: JON KING - JULY 22, 2024 1:42 PM via Michigan Advance https://t.co/TTxNCw15aZ
Looks totally legit, right?
Anyways we've strayed off topic, we were originally talking about Paul Krugman remember? Since the Howell, Michigan thing seems to just be a pointless campaign talking point surely the underlying point he's making about the murder rates is a good one, right? He's an economist, these are numbers, that's what economists work with!
Setting aside "notorious white supremacist stronghold" to describe any location in the United States, much less Detroit, Krugman knows exactly what he's doing here ("Estimated Percent Change" per year). https://t.co/UlwKntwKG0
— Blame Big Government (@BlameBigGovt) August 19, 2024
The worst part about Krugman in particular is that we know he knows what he's doing, he is after all a trained economist. While his claims on how economics should operate are often absurd he certainly must know how numbers and charts work, and he should be aware of what the words 'estimated percent change' mean. Not to mention what this graph is showing is the murder rate reverting back to the nor after the insanity of the George Floyd riots and the accompanying social unrest in 2020, not the results of any sound governance by Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. Biden, Harris, and the entire Democratic Party deserves all of the blame for the insanity of 2020 but none of the praise for the nation having seemingly calmed down a little. After all, it seems silly to praise Democrats and their voters for finally stopping killing people for a bit.
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