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Michael Popak
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Michael Popak
Bottom just fell out of Donald Trump's Trumponomics and everything I'm going to report on right now, the terrible job numbers, the revision down, the loss of about 258,000 jobs over the last two months. 258,000 jobs that Donald Trump reported that we had, that we didn't really have. The slowdown in manufacturing, the consumer price index going up. This is all the reasons that the Federal Reserve refuses to move interest rates. And now Wall street is responding. But the big, the big takeaway, the big blockbuster report here right now on the Midas Touch Network and Legal af as I put on my Wall street superpowers once again is the terrible retrograde job numbers. We thought off of the April Rose Garden, whatever's left of the Rose Garden announcement of tariffs, that there was going to be no immediate impact on the economy. Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Trump and Trumponomics there is. Get this headline. In June, Donald Trump and his statisticians reported that there was 147,000 new jobs made in June. You want to know the real number? 14,000. In May, he reported another 144,000 jobs created. The real number, 19,000. When you wipe away the over 258,000 jobs that just disappeared from the statistics. This is the reason that suppliers and manufacturers are so worried and have stopped buying. That sound you hear is not a sucking sound. It's the, it's the economy starting to stall out. Now we're getting the big picture. In the last six months, five months in a row, five months in a row, job picture has been terrible. We're now at the lowest numbers, lowest levels of jobs since 2020. What happened then? Oh, right. Covid under Donald Trump and how he mismanaged it. This is now we're seeing that combined. This is all crashing waves. The crashing waves of the tariffs. They're all happy about announcing. We got 90 tariffs. We got. That is not helping your Trumponomics. It's hurting Americans. Because what the Fed is tracking is that consumer price index is going up. It already went up 3% since last year. Meaning if you went to the supermarket and you were, you're, you'd be 3% short if you brought the same money to buy your goods, your, your groceries than now. And who's going to come up with that 3% supermarket? Go back to the car. See what kind of change you have in the seats of your car. That's what Donald Trump wants you to do. But the job picture is so devastating to Donald Trump's economics and what he's trying to push down the throat of America. I mean, it's one thing to say, hey, think about this number. Think of a Democrat had lost 258,000 jobs over the course of two months. We are more than five months in a row, all since the Trump administration. I mean, that's the Trump administration of seeing effectively job loss. And what is Donald Trump's reaction? He calls Powell a stubborn moron, his words, who won't drop rates. And then he calls for a coup. He wants the other 11 or 12 members of the Federal Reserve. He's only got two appointees to take over the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee and cut rates. He's calling for a coup. Of course, he always wants coups. He loves coups. He tried it on Jan6. He's supporting Brazil and Bolsonaro, who's a president who's going to be convicted of a coup. He's trying to bail him out. There's something about Donald Trump and convicted or indicted sex traffickers and coup leaders that he just finds affinity with birds of a feather. But he can't run away from the stubborn little facts of his job numbers. Can I share a little secret with you? I kick my coffee habit and I swapped it out for Mud Water and wow, what a difference. No more jitters, no afternoon crashes, just smooth balance energy that helps me focus and crush my day. 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And this is why on Wednesday I reported that Jay Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, would not cut rates yet. And it's not going to signal whether he's going to do it in September either. Because they got to see the job numbers and knew that the job numbers that Donald Trump was promoting were fake and phony. Let me put this in perspective. Democrats and Democratic presidents make more jobs than Republicans. I know people think in polling that it's the Republicans because I don't know why they hang out of country clubs. They're going to make more jobs. Historically, whether you look at Clinton, Obama, Biden, they going even going further back, they make more jobs than Reagan, Bush and Trump. Just add up the numbers. They've always made more jobs. And that is a better indicia of the health of an economy than the stock market, which is based on the, let's be frank, the magical thinking of brokers and traders, sometimes with no fundamental economics behind it, to set prices. How do you explain meme stocks? Everybody's trying to buy Krispy Kreme today. Everybody bought GameStop. Why? Everybody bought. Why? Because they're gonna pump up the price, pump up the value on Reddit and other, you know, social media sites, you know, in order to squeeze, a squeeze strategy that shows you that the stock market cannot be relied on to show you the health of an economy. There's a reason Donald Trump doesn't call it Trumponomics and we do, because it's failing and the tariffs haven't already been, haven't even been baked into the job numbers. We just got the Institute of Supply Management. See, we have to go to independent institutes to give us accurate data about this economy under Donald Trump because his labor secretary and his commerce secretary are cooking the books on the numbers and they're not providing accurate numbers. The they're trying to smooth and manage the numbers around the economy. So we've got to go to independent entities like the Institute of Supply Management who says that the managers who buy inventory are slowing up for the fifth consecutive month, they're slowing up on their buying. That's a bad thing. When purchasing managers sphincters close, that means the economy is rolling backwards. And we're seeing that data. I mean, I've already reported that one of the main indicia of a recession, which is a reduction in consumer spending. When that happens and we are in that now consumer discretionary spending is down in 60 years. It's always predicted that we're either in a recession once you look back on it, or that we're about to enter one. And Donald Trump still talks about the illusory, magical thinking, unenforceable trade deals which are about to get struck down. All his trade deals, all his tariffs by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals because they're unconstitutional and illegal because he doesn't have the power to do it. Only Congress has the power. So wipe all that out and all that money that he collected and brought into the Treasury. The $50 billion in tariffs paid by American importers, that's the other thing that never gets talked about. It's not China and the 90 countries that are paying the tax. It's the importer. The importer who's on the American side is paying the tax. So either that person tries to figure out a way to share the burden so it doesn't get just passed on directly to the consumer, or it gets passed on directly to the consumer. Ford Motor Company, which builds most of its product here in America, is the number one company in America that's being hurt by the tariffs because they've got to get parts from overseas. And so they got to pay the 15, 18, 50% tariffs on certain core products, core supplies, to build a car in America. So they tout we're the only American car company making cars primarily in America. And, and they're going to have to pass along the pricing to the consumer, making them competitively disadvantaged. Donald Trump's going to put Ford Motor Company out of business with his tariff scheme. So job numbers are the canary in the coal mine. The fact that they are in retrograde where we're back to 2020 in job growth while prices go up. You put the two things together. A sputtering economy, we rising prices. What do you call that? Stagflation. Stagnant economy. Inflation, stagflation. Now, the central bank may have to get us out of this mess come September with some rate cuts. But for right now, this is the economy that Donald Trump created. He made this suit, he measured it and he's got to wear it. Unfortunately, we got to wear it with him. So I'm going to continue to follow everything that's going on in the economy at the intersection of law and politics because it matters. As Donald Trump continues to lie to us about the statistics showing that his economy is an out and out failure. You're on midas touch and legal af. Take a minute, hit the subscribe button for Midas Touch do the exact same thing for legal AF YouTube channel. I mean, as I joked recently, if 10% of the people that watch my videos and my content every week on Midas and on Legal AF just hit the subscribe button, we could stop asking people to subscribe. But in the meantime, I gotta ask you hit the subscribe button. We have no paywall, no outside investors, no corporate parent, you, me, our audience, this is it and the Midas Touch Network. So until my next report on Legal AF and otherwise, this is Michael Popak. In collaboration with the Midas Touch Network, we just launched the Legal AF YouTube channel. Help us build this pro democracy channel where I'll be curating the top secret stories, the intersection of law and Politics. Go to YouTube now and free subscribe at Legal AFMTN. That's at Legal AFMTN.
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The Cascades to PDX to your kitchen, we recycle like we live here. That's why governments, brands and recycling companies are all joining together to bring change to make recycling better. As in trusting that your recyclables end up in the right places to be made into new things and having brands help fund the cost of recycling. You can find the Latest updates at recycleon.org Oregon From Mount Hood to the bin under your desk, together we can do this. From the Cascades to PDX to your kitchen, we recycle like we live here. That's why governments, brands and recycling companies are all joining together to bring change to make recycling better. As entrusted that your recyclables end up in the right places to be made into new things and having brands help fund the cost of recycling. You can find the Latest updates at recycleon.org Oregon From Mount Hood to the bin under your desk, together we can do this. From the Cascades to PDX to your kitchen, we recycle like we live here. That's why governments, brands and recycling companies are all joining together to bring changes to make recycling better. As in trusting that your recyclables end up in the right places to be made into new things and having brands help fund the cost of recycling. You can find the Latest updates at recycleon.org Oregon From Mount Hood to the bin under your desk. Together we can do this.
Legal AF by MeidasTouch: “Trump Hit with Instant Karma for Awful Plan” Episode Summary
Release Date: August 3, 2025
In the episode titled “Trump Hit with Instant Karma for Awful Plan”, hosted by the MeidasTouch Network, civil rights lawyer Ben Meiselas, national trial lawyer strategist Michael Popak, and former Chief Assistant District Attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo delve into the recent economic developments under former President Donald Trump's administration. This episode provides a critical analysis of Trump's economic policies, particularly focusing on his reported job numbers and the impact of his tariff strategies on the U.S. economy.
Michael Popak opens the discussion by challenging the authenticity of the job numbers reported during Trump's tenure.
Michael Popak ([02:52]): “The loss of about 258,000 jobs over the last two months. 258,000 jobs that Donald Trump reported that we had, that we didn't really have.”
Popak asserts that the actual job creation figures significantly lag behind the numbers presented by the Trump administration. For instance:
June Job Report:
May Job Report:
These discrepancies amount to an overstatement of approximately 258,000 jobs, suggesting a manipulated portrayal of economic health.
The episode scrutinizes Trump's tariff policies, emphasizing their detrimental effects on American industries and consumers.
Michael Popak ([02:52]): “Donald Trump's economical ... his tariffs ... it's hurting Americans.”
Key points include:
Popak highlights that the tariffs are ultimately passed on to American consumers, either directly through higher prices or indirectly by burdening companies like Ford, potentially driving them out of business.
The role of the Federal Reserve in responding to these economic challenges is another focal point.
Michael Popak ([02:52]): “The Federal Reserve refuses to move interest rates...”
Despite the murky job numbers and rising prices, Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell remains steadfast, delaying interest rate cuts. Popak argues that this stance is due to the conflicting economic indicators Trump’s administration presents.
Popak provides a historical context, comparing job creation across various presidencies.
Michael Popak ([02:52]): “Democrats and Democratic presidents make more jobs than Republicans... Clinton, Obama, Biden... make more jobs.”
This comparison suggests that Democratic administrations have historically fostered more robust job growth than their Republican counterparts, challenging Trump's narrative of economic success.
Combining stagnant job growth with rising inflation leads to concerns about stagflation—a dire economic condition characterized by slow growth and high inflation.
Michael Popak ([02:52]): “A sputtering economy, we rising prices. What do you call that? Stagflation.”
Popak warns that without corrective measures, the economy could face prolonged stagnation paired with continued inflation, exacerbating the financial strain on American households.
In response to the unfavorable economic data, Trump allegedly criticizes Federal Reserve decisions and calls for a takeover.
Michael Popak ([02:52]): “He calls for a coup. Of course, he always wants coups.”
Popak ties this behavior to Trump's broader pattern of undermining institutions and supporting authoritarian leaders, further destabilizing political and economic landscapes.
Manipulated Economic Data: The significant gap between reported and actual job numbers under Trump raises questions about the integrity of economic reporting and transparency in his administration.
Tariffs as a Double-Edged Sword: While intended to protect American industries, Trump's tariffs have backfired by increasing costs for consumers and manufacturing enterprises, leading to diminished competitiveness and potential job losses.
Federal Reserve Independence: The Federal Reserve's reluctance to adjust interest rates in the face of conflicting economic indicators underscores the complexity of navigating monetary policy amidst political pressures.
Historical Performance Metrics: A historical analysis reveals that Democratic administrations have outperformed Republican ones in job creation, challenging the narrative of Republican economic superiority.
Stagflation Threat: The convergence of stagnant job growth and rising inflation presents a significant risk of stagflation, threatening long-term economic stability.
Undermining Institutions: Trump's criticism of the Federal Reserve and call for a coup reflect a troubling pattern of undermining democratic institutions, which could have lasting repercussions on governance and economic policy.
The episode meticulously dissects the flaws in Trump’s economic strategies, particularly focusing on the misrepresentation of job growth and the adverse effects of his tariff policies. Michael Popak underscores the broader implications of these policies, highlighting the risks of stagflation and the undermining of critical institutions like the Federal Reserve. The discussion positions Trump's economic legacy as one marked by misleading statistics and policies that ultimately harm American consumers and industries.
For listeners seeking a comprehensive understanding of the intricate ties between law, politics, and economics, this episode of Legal AF offers a critical and in-depth analysis of contemporary challenges facing the U.S. economy under Trump's influence.
Michael Popak ([02:52]): “The loss of about 258,000 jobs over the last two months. 258,000 jobs that Donald Trump reported that we had, that we didn't really have.”
Michael Popak ([02:52]): “This is the reason that suppliers and manufacturers are so worried and have stopped buying... it’s the economy starting to stall out.”
Michael Popak ([02:52]): “A sputtering economy, we rising prices. What do you call that? Stagflation.”
Michael Popak ([02:52]): “He calls for a coup. Of course, he always wants coups.”
This summary aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the podcast episode, capturing all critical discussions and insights presented by the host. For a deeper dive into the topics, listening to the full episode is recommended.