Do I feel sorry for the New England Patriots? Nahhhhh…

OK - enough football. Let’s talk about the economy this morning with several stories.

I’ll start with this astounding editorial from the Wall Street Journal (I generally avoid the WSJ Op-Ed page because it makes my head hurt, but I couldn’t resist this Editorial - Note: emphasis in the article is mine):

So much to unpack here. First, let me make it clear that I wholeheartedly support increased immigration limits and avenues for foreign workers to live legally in the USA.

E-Verify was instituted to make it easier for employers to ensure they were hiring workers who were/are legally in the country. I’ve always said if you want to stem the tide of undocumented workers here, don’t just arrest workers at a meat packing plant or orange grove; arrest the management of the company that knowingly hire them (Again, NOTE: see my statement in the paragraph above - I want more immigrant workers, not less). Holding employers to account and ensuring there are personal consequences for management would change hiring behavior nearly instantaneously, and IMHO, likely lead to changes in immigration law the included increased immigration limits.

Yes, the WSJ Editorial Board is generally business focused. Nonetheless, I find it both hypocritical and ironic that the Trump-supporting, hyper-conservative WSJ editorial board is calling for removal of a tool - E-Verify - that supports “conservatives” current take on “illegal” immigration, to the point where they admit that a) immigrants are not taking jobs away from US citizens, and b) there are “human and economic” costs to having ICE rampage through our country. Seems as if the moral of this story is “don’t mess with anything that makes money for the employer-class”.

Whatever the reasoning/motivation, better late than never, I guess?!

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Next up: looks like our economy is just humming along. Nothing to see here folks:

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Also:

Let’s parse this lovely economics-speak statement by hack economist Kevin Hassett (I love me my Paul Krugman).

Hassett seems to be saying a) job creation is in the toilet (“There’s a chance job creation lags”), b) workers will suffer while corporations and their C-Suite execs will prosper (“productivity skyrockets, profits skyrocket”), c) reiterates that corps. and CEOs will do just fine while the American people suffer (“GDP skyrockets, but then all of the sudden you're making 20 widgets and you can make 20 widgets with fewer persons, and then that person has to find a new job.”), and he and his fellow “conservatives” are just fine with all of it (“I think that kind of transition could happen” he says with a smile on his face).

Let me focus on one point here. GDP is a good measure of how the economy is growing on a macro level. However, GDP is a horrible measure if we want to understand how the benefit of a growing economy is distributed amongst the American people, i.e., if the economy is actually a rising tide that lifts all boats.

Historically - Pre-Reagan - GDP and productivity growth was distributed primarily to workers in the form of higher wages and benefits, with corporations and management receiving a smaller share. Post-Reagan (and precipitously under GW Bush), this trend flipped to the point where the vast majority of GDP growth accrues to corporate profits and management compensation. In plain words, most of us get screwed while our economy produces and ever greater concentration of billionaires and 0.1%ers.

I guess we are on a roll, if you like this sort of a thing…