#2671 (5/14) 'When Reality Bucks Certain Liberal Wishes and Dreams"

'WHEN REALITY BUCKS CERTAIN LIBERAL WISHES AND DREAMS" - Ed Feulner/ @EdFeulner / May 13, 2019 / https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/05/13/when-reality-bucks-certain-liberal-wishes-and-dreams/ [AS I SEE IT: The unique approach of the President to our economy  as a businessman has thus far had unexpectedly great results. To add to what the author of this article says, however, I believe we must be doing more to reduce the out-of control federal defecit and not be doing things that merely add to it. The President's multi-trillion dollar proposal for infrastructure reform (that seems to be an attempt to work with Democrats) thus far looks like another "stimulus package" of recent years that did not have a way to effectively pay for itself. Let's be praying that more can be done to reduce, and not add to our nation's dangerously high defecit problem. - Stan]

     Many liberal economists predicted gloom and doom under President Donald Trump, but the unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in almost 50 years. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

    “We are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight.” That was New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, making a prediction on election night in 2016 about what we could expect under President Donald Trump. Month after month, however, Krugman’s crystal ball has proven untrustworthy. But surely vindication would come sooner or later, right? After all, Krugman’s not just any columnist. He’s a distinguished professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He won the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. And he wasn’t alone in predicting gloom and doom under Trump. Many other liberal economists foresaw catastrophe on the horizon.

   Fast forward to the latest monthly employment numbers, though, and you find reality simply refuses to play along with their hopes, er, prognosis. Again, we got some stellar figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In April, the economy created some 263,000 jobs, even better than the already impressive 213,000 jobs per month that has been created on average over the last year. We’re now up to 103 straight months of job creation. 
   The unemployment rate is at 3.6%. That’s the lowest it’s been in almost 50 years. You’d have to go back to the days of the first moon landing to get an employment rate this good. It’s 3.1% for adult women—the lowest since 1953—and 4.1% for Hispanics, which is the lowest it’s ever been.
   Wages, meanwhile, continue to grow, especially for those on the lower end of the economic scale. “The recent wage gains have been largest for those who need it most,” writes tax expert Adam Michel. “For the last six months, wage growth for production and non-supervisory workers outpaced the average for the entire economy.” 

   The continued good news has left a number of economic watchers more than a bit confounded. “The labor market the United States is experiencing right now wasn’t supposed to be possible,” writes Neil Irwin in The New York Times. If the conventional wisdom proved correct, for example, we’d be experiencing some serious inflation right now. Three years ago, the Federal Reserve was predicting 4.8% unemployment in 2019, with 2% inflation. Instead, of course, the jobless figure is a full 1.2 percentage points lower, and inflation is only 1.6% over the last year.

   Some liberals insist that Trump doesn’t deserve the credit—that what we’re seeing is simply a continuation of good economic news that began before Trump took office.

True, the job market had been improving for a while before he became president. But, Irwin writes, “After more than two years of the Trump administration, warnings that trade wars and erratic management style would throw the economy off course have proved wrong so far, and tax cuts and deregulation are most likely part of the reason for the strong growth rates in 2018 and the beginning of 2019.”

   Even as we savor the benefits of a strong economy (and enjoy how wrong the naysayers have once again proved themselves to be), this is no time to stand pat. Lawmakers need to keep tax rates and tariffs low. They can start by doing two things above all else.
   One, make the 2017 tax cut permanent. The cut has been doing some good work, but key provisions are set to expire after 2025. The economy will do even better once employers and businesses know the cut won’t be going away.
   Second, tame out-of-control spending. Politicians once took their responsibility to be sensible stewards of the national purse seriously, but profligacy has since become a way of life on both sides of the aisle. The tremendous amount of debt we’re accumulating will saddle future generations with higher taxes and less opportunity.

   And if we don’t attack this problem when our economy is so strong, when will we? So let’s act—and shore up the tremendous gains we’ve seen so far.

[italics and colored emphasis mine]

Edwin J. Feulner’s 36 years of leadership as president of The Heritage Foundation transformed the think tank from a small policy shop into America’s powerhouse of conservative ideas. Read his research
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"New Jobs Report Shows Record Unemployment Lows for Hispanics, Women" - Timothy Doescher / May 03, 2019 /  https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/05/03/new-jobs-report-shows-record-unemployment-lows-for-hispanics-women/

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PRAYER MATTERS:

"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against 

the disorder of the world. -  Karl Barth

"Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory. Intercession is the one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer." - Stan

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Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/

     On the world’s second-largest continent, Christians throughout Africa are enduring severe persecution. In May, Open Doors is focusing on African believers suffering from both oppression
and physical violence. Please join us in praying with our brothers and sisters in these places where peace is elusive and conflict is ever-present.
May 14 | NIGERIA - Ruth,* 24, converted to Christianity from Islam, which led her parents to disown her. A church elder took in Ruth, but after a year, Sharia police abducted her. Stand with Ruth in prayer as she faces pressure to revert to Islam.
*Names changed to protect identities

#2670 (5/13) "The Most Unequal of Them All" 

"THE MOST UNEQUAL OF THEM ALL" -  By Travis Weber, FRC Vice President of Policy, Washington Update, May 10, 2019; https://www.frc.org/updatearticle/20190510/most-unequal [AS I SEE IT: With liberal Democrats in control of the House, this bill is likely to pass THAT chamber. Praise God it will never make it past the Senate let alone be signed into law by President Trump. But just the fact that these threatening ideas are even put forward speaks to how far downward our culture and country has fallen. Join me in PRAYING against wrong-headed ideas such as this from bringing great harm to our country. - Stan]

     The Equality Act, by now quite familiar to all of us, will finally be voted on in the House [THIS] week. Its title sounds smooth and is designed to be attractive. But beneath the veneer, the faulty premises upon which it rests have poisoned the entire bill, which is irreparably tainted. If passed, its impact upon American life and culture can be summed up in one word: devastation.

   It starts by being built upon a lie—that one's sexual conduct is substantially the same as an immutable characteristic like one's skin color. Once cemented into law, this lie is ready to be forced into educational curricula around the country as activists use the courts in their shameless attempt to piggyback on the legacy of the civil rights movement. As women are steamrolled by the LGBT ideology enshrined in the Equality Act, feminists realize who their true friends are: conservatives.

    This emerging alliance is built on truth: biology, not ideology, dictates that we are men and women. Though physically different, we are equal in worth, and deserving of protection. Indeed, the very sex discrimination protections for men and women which we have had for decades are being steamrolled by the Equality Act's notion of "gender identity," which dismisses the concerns of women being forced to violate their privacy or compete against biological men in sporting competitions. 
   Women powerlifters competing with one another understand this. Why is it so hard for everyone else? Even [liberal] Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing many years ago about sex distinctions in the context of the Equal Rights Amendment, defended privacy for men and women in the context of bathrooms. Yet now all this is being willfully ignored.

   I actually do think there is a silent majority out there; many Americans agree that women shouldn't be forced to violate their privacy or compete against men -- but they need to find their voice; many are just too cowed and scared of those pushing the LGBT ideology right now to say anything. For the good of our children and our families, we need our fellow Americans know the truth and agree with us to find their voice and speak up.

   As if this embedded inequality for women was not enough, the Equality Act would expand abortion throughout our healthcare system, and put in jeopardy the long-standing conscience laws protecting those opposed to abortion, and even the Hyde Amendment which prohibits taxpayer funding of abortion. There are no protections for those that object to abortion under the Equality Act—just a right to abortion.

   Finally, the Equality Act would gut religious freedom. Even some houses of worship would be barred from ensuring their leaders and other employees abide by their own beliefs. Under the Equality Act, women who identify as men would have to be accepted as men and therefore potentially eligible to serve in positions reserved for men (such as a Catholic Priest or Jewish Rabbi). Under such restrictions, the gospel would slowly be choked off in American life.

   The vote in the House [THIS] week on this anti-family, anti-faith, anti-freedom, and pro-abortion legislation is a moment in our national life. It will not measure just who favors the ideology in the Equality Act, but who is in favor of forcing it on the neighbors, friends, co-workers, and fellow citizens. It is that coercive. It must be stopped.

[italics and colored emphasis mine]

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"How Equality Act Would Promote Abortion" - Tony Perkins / @tperkins / May 09, 2019 / https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/05/09/how-equality-act-would-promote-abortion/
"Equality Act Could Impose Left-Wing LGBT Curriculum on Whole Nation" - Jarrett Stepman / @JarrettStepman / May 11, 2019; https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/05/11/equality-act-could-impose-left-wing-lgbt-curriculum-on-whole-nation/

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PRAYER MATTERS:

"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against 

the disorder of the world. -  Karl Barth

"Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory. Intercession is the one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer." - Stan

------------------------------------------------------------

Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/

     On the world’s second-largest continent, Christians throughout Africa are enduring severe persecution. In May, Open Doors is focusing on African believers suffering from both oppression
and physical violence. Please join us in praying with our brothers and sisters in these places where peace is elusive and conflict is ever-present.
May 13 | LIBYA - Pray for young female believers whose families force them to marry Muslim men. Pray that Christian women forced to marry would be kept safe and bold in sharing their hope.
*Names changed to protect identities