The Labor Department reported Friday morning that only 140,000 jobs were created in August, significantly less than the 160,000 predicted by economists.
In addition, July jobs numbers were revised downward from 114,000 to 89,000 and the June numbers were revised down from 178,000 to just 118,000.
This is on top of the recent downward revision of job creation during the first quarter of 2024 by 818,000 jobs.
My question: If the numbers are always going to be unrealistically inflated then later greatly lowered, why bother to report them at all? Are these real government jobs reports or just Biden-Harris reelection propaganda?
I suspect that if we ever want to see jobs numbers go up for real again, we’d better make sure some people in Washington lose their jobs in November.
Trump’s Plan for the Economy
Speaking of sluggish job creation, both Presidential candidates are making economic proposals.
Kamala Harris’ have been so bad (price controls, taxing unrealized capital gains, more than doubling the capital gains tax) that other Democrats are reportedly quietly trying to reassure industry and investment leaders that there’s no way they’ll ever pass Congress.
Translation: Vote for her for President, but don’t worry: she won’t be making any important decisions.
Meanwhile, Trump laid out his proposals Thursday at the Economic Club of New York, where he made a speech and took questions on the economy (try to imagine Kamala doing that.) You can watch it here.
Trump calls his plan “Make America Affordable Again.”
It includes a strong push for deregulation, especially in the energy and housing industries, to bring down consumer prices and make homes affordable again.
(Note: Affordability is a big issue for the American housing industry right now. But Charles Mizrahi follows the money and it’s leading to a big investing opportunity in housing. He told me about this one tiny publicly traded builder that’s created one of the most unique business models I’ve ever seen. See the details below…)
He would also use what he calls “smart tariffs” on nations such as China to protect American jobs and open up foreign markets.
Critics say tariffs might increase inflation, but Trump claims these tariffs would reduce inflation and raise enough money to offset tax cuts. He would also rescind the unspent funds from Biden’s mammoth misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act.”
Trump also endorsed Elon Musk’s suggestion of creating a government efficiency commission to conduct a full audit of the government to identify areas of waste, fraud and inefficiency so that the government could be streamlined and spending reduced.
History lesson: If that sounds familiar, old timers might recall that in 1982, Ronald Reagan created the Grace Commission to do essentially the same thing.
He even used the phrase, “Drain the swamp” (déjà vu!).
It came up with about 2,500 proposals, most of which were never implemented.
So if we’re going to do this again, let’s make sure this time that it’s not just a list of the countless ways the government wastes our time and money.
Let’s make it a “To-Do List” and actually do something about it.
Director, Prosperity Research
Housing Costs Skyrocket: Even High Earners Struggle to Afford Homes
And it’s not because they can’t save money or don’t make enough.
They both make salaries that would put them in the top 10% of wage earners in the country…
Yet the cost of even a starter house is well north of $1 million in the New York area.
Even if one can find a decent house, there are still the monthly carrying costs of a 6.5% mortgage, rising property tax, and sky-high home insurance.
They are constantly reminding me how different it is from when I bought my house in the late 1980s.
They like to say, “Pop, you bought your house for three blueberries and a strawberry.”
Even though I got an 11% mortgage, the cost of the house was less than 3X my annual salary.
Right now, the average single-family house in the U.S. costs more than 7X times the U.S. median annual household income.
And if you live in New York, it’s close to 10X.
Seeing what my sons and many millennials are facing … the American dream seems to be out of reach.
The Housing Affordability Index, which measures whether or not a typical family earns enough income to qualify for a mortgage loan, is at an all-time low.
With housing prices rising in a very tight market, it looks like the situation will get worse before it gets better.
Decreasing supply and rising demand only lead to higher prices…
Something’s gotta give.
Home prices in the U.S. continue to hit record highs.
Millennials Drive Housing Boom: $16 Trillion in New Wealth by 2030
Demand for housing is not going to slow down anytime soon.
And that’s because Millennials, the children of Baby Boomers, are driving the housing market higher.
This generation is the largest in U.S. history. It’s also set to become the wealthiest.
Their total wealth is expected to grow five-fold by 2030.
Millennials are earning more from their jobs and will inherit an estimated $738,724 on average from their Boomer parents.
I estimate that it will create $16 trillion in new wealth by 2030 — and I’m being conservative!
Some in the press are quoting studies with even bigger projections:
- Fox Business, citing a study from McKinsey and Company, says: “It is the greatest transfer of wealth the nation has ever seen.”
- Newsweek says, “$68 trillion by 2030. The largest transfer of wealth in the history of humankind.”
- Forbes is estimating … “$84.4 trillion through 2045.”
Demand, as I’ve just shown you, is hard-coded into the system.
The only thing that can make housing more affordable is an increase in supply.
I’ve been watching an opportunity develop over the past two years and it runs against what most of the pundits are saying.
The way I see it, home builders are at the cusp of a golden age of home building.
However, not every homebuilder is going to soar.
There is one homebuilder, a pretty small one, that is flying way below Wall Street’s radar that my research is telling me has a long runway.
They’re completely reinventing how houses are bought and sold in America.
This homebuilder also has a founder/CEO running the show.
And boy, does he have skin in the game: 99% of his net worth is in his business.
That’s enough to keep him up at night, making sure every decision he makes adds to shareholder value.
This founder/CEO is following the same playbook that helped turn another homebuilder into a 19,607% gainer in the 1990s:
He’s not only following the playbook to a tee … he’s even perfected it. He made it better.
Bottom line: The housing supply is about to soar.
And this one homebuilder has all the right stuff to make investors life-changing gains.
Click here and I’ll give you all the details on why this time is different.
Regards,
Charles Mizrahi
Founder, Alpha Investor