President Donald Trump touted a tweet by his former Labor Secretary nominee and right-wing businessman Andy Puzder on Sunday night that actually shows how much better and steady wage growth was under former President Barack Obama.
That’s not how Puzder meant to use his chart, however. He meant for people to look at only Trump’s term in office thus far, which shows a mere one percent rise in wage growth from 3.5 percent to just 4.5 percent, hardly something to brag about considering the federal minimum is still $7.25 an hour and millions of Americans have had to take on multiple jobs to get by in an economy geared toward benefiting the wealthy.
Furthermore, even Moody’s says that Trump’s economy is a failure.
Of course, Trump bragged anyway, tweeting out the post late Sunday night in an attempt to claim that his policies are somehow helping the American people.
It’s quite a misleading chart, especially since many blue states have been passing laws raising the minimum wage, something Trump had nothing to do with. The one percent spike is also misleading because it’s really not that much money when one does the math.
Alexa, what is $7.25*1.045
$7.58Alexa, where can a working class American afford to live on $7.58/hour
No Results Found— 23Tallboy (@Tallboy_The23rd) December 22, 2019
Other Twitter users also pointed out the flaws in Puzder’s misleading chart, including the fact that the growth began under Obama.
It’s all but impossible to look at this chart and not conclude
• that the Historic Turnaround took place under the @BarackObama administration and
• that average hourly earnings in low wage industries have been improving since.@WSJ @FT pic.twitter.com/QtM2ucCvOX
— Hispanic Citizen (@US_Latino) December 23, 2019
What the fuck were you CEO of anyway? A coal company? pic.twitter.com/KynQzgfSlc
— Luc Nocente (@LucNocente) December 23, 2019
I’m working class America. And I still live paycheck to paycheck.
When does all this “winning” actually reach the people?
Oh, right. It never does. Because it’s all LIES!! pic.twitter.com/n7PPbvzxt9
— ? Laci Liu ? (@LaciLou77) December 23, 2019
#GOPTaxScam benefits went mostly to large corporations — which fueled huge stock buybacks — and to the very rich.
Only a small fraction of the tax cuts went to middle class workers.
That is one reason there was a very small increase in demand, followed by some layoffs. pic.twitter.com/QEi3bp6RbG— Jack Polakoff (@JackPolakoff) December 23, 2019
And now for the truth! Real wages are completely flat! pic.twitter.com/JkJxUUL0Li
— BelieveEYES,notLIES (@paradigmyname) December 23, 2019
WTF? Low-wage industries increases are something to be grateful for?? What? I’m no economist, but low-wage part-time bullshit jobs don’t put food on the table or pay the light bill. Take your shitty jobs and stick them where the light bill doesn’t shine. pic.twitter.com/gfsejiZfxe
— LaurieB (@Laurieluvsmolly) December 23, 2019
Hey Andy, where did you get the data or the chart? I can make up charts as well and publish them on Twitter with no reference to the origin of the data. This is propaganda. What is the change corrected for inflation? What did #Spanky do to influence wages? Answer – NOTHING!!!
— Many People (@MuchasPersonaz) December 23, 2019
Don’t be so fucking sure of that Puzder. pic.twitter.com/gE0Tf5odbe
— Cheri Dennen (@CheriDennen) December 23, 2019
Clearly, low wage earners are not succeeding nearly as much as Trump and Puzder say they are, and this is nothing more than another scheme designed to make it look like Trump has a strong economy. The truth is starker and more dire.
Featured Image: YouTube screenshot
