CNN’s Chris Cuomo sought to play down the decay of America’s economy on Wednesday’s New Day. In so doing, he offered an informal left-wing and partisan Democrat response to President Donald Trump’s Tuesday address to Congress using the pretense of good faith journalism and reporting.
Framing the segment as a “reality check” – drawing on the now corrupted term “fact check” regularly deployed by left-wing and partisan Democrat news media operators – of Trump’s claims, Cuomo took umbrage with the following statements from the president’s address: “We must honestly acknowledge the circumstances we inherited; 94 million Americans are out of the labor force; over 43 million people are now living in poverty; and over 43 million Americans are on food stamps.”
Ninety-four million Americans over the age of sixteen who are unemployed and not pursuing work, said Cuomo, “had nothing to do with the strength of the economy.” He read his retort from a teleprompter:
“94 million Americans are out of the labor force. That happens to be true. The Atlanta Federal Reserve says it’s actually higher; 95.1 million Americans are not working, but guess what? There’s a reason for that that has nothing to do with the strength of the economy. About 92% of those people are retired, disabled, taking care of a family member, or in school or job training. So they’re not really looking for work, and not always for bad reason. So that claim is true, but misleading.”
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (FRBA) describes today’s labor force participation rate as “one of the lowest… since the late 1970s,” providing data on and an overview of the myriad of reasons provided by unemployed Americans for their withdrawal and disinterest in employment.
According to the FRBA, the following percentages of various cohorts based on age are unemployed and not looking for work (most recent data from 2016):
81% of people over the age of 65 (of whom 5% and 73% claim to be disabled or retired, respectively)
36% of people aged 55-64 (of whom 13% and 17% claim to be disabled or retired, respectively)
19% of people aged 25-54 (of whom less than 2% are in school)
45% of people aged 16-24 (of whom 67% are not in school)
According to Cuomo, the aforementioned economic statistics are not a problem inherited by the Trump administration.
Cuomo presents himself as an objective and non-partisan news media personality. CNN likewise presents itself as an objective and non-partisan news media outlet, marketing itself as “The Most Trusted Name In News.”
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