Inflation continues to ease, as the Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% in September for an annual rate of +2.4%, compared with +2.5% in August and +2.9% in July. Real average hourly earnings for all employees also rose 0.2% in September, the Labor Department reports Thursday. The CPI index for all items less food and energy was +0.3% last month, and up 3.3% annually. [CHART: US Bureau of Labor Statistics]
FRIDAY 10/11/24
Where Are the Candidates? – Perennially nervous Democrats are “second-guessing” the Harris/Walz campaign strategy, according to FiveThirtyEight, which quotes the website VoteHub’s tracker of campaign events. Turns out that neither Democratic candidate Kamala Harris nor GOP candidate Donald J. Trump are exactly tearing up the campaign trail, though when they do so, it’s very much in the swing-states. From August 23 to October 9, Trump has held 39 public events to Harris’ 28, says VoteHub.
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Trump v. Detroit – In what Politico describes as “a rambling, two-hour speech” to the Detroit Economic Club – which means it’s modeled after one of his outdoor campaign rallies -- Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump drew applause for promising to “revolutionize” and revitalize the auto industry. That means in part scrubbing the Biden administration’s unspent billions to promote electric vehicles and raising tariffs on Mexican-built Chinese cars to as much as 1,000%.
Trump also proposes another devastatingly expensive tax gimme; to make new vehicle loans “fully deductible.” Trump’s myriad proposed tariff hikes presumably would help pay for this (Politico quotes Federal Reserve data that show $1.6 trillion in securitized auto loans for the first half of the year), which means higher auto prices for everyone.
Most striking, though, is that Trump insulted the steadily revitalizing city of Detroit in order to attack opponent Kamala Harris.
“The whole country will be like – you want to know the truth? It’ll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president,” Trump said.
Harris might want to return to the Motor City for a campaign appearance toot suite. While Metro Detroit maintains the usual urban v. suburban divide economically and politically, its downtown area, at least, in the last decade has become a model for other big cities in need of revitalization.
Mayor Mike Duggan, who took office in 2014 to help foster the city past its 2013 bankruptcy responded to Trump’s remarks on social media, pointing to Detroit’s drop in crime (it is on-track for its lowest homicide rate since 1966) and its growing population.
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Obama for Harris – Can ex-President Barack Obama sway Black men whom in myriad polls show are either leaning toward Donald J. Trump for president or are going to sit November 5 out? His campaigning for Hilary Clinton in 2016 did not push her over the top, Electoral College-wise, but the former president is taking to the stump to make his case for Kamala Harris, beginning in Pittsburgh Thursday (per The Washington Post).
“On the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences. … But in Trump, “you have someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the community, but for you as a person … and you’re thinking about sitting out?”
Later at a campaign office in Pittsburgh, Obama addressed young Black men who are reluctant to vote for a woman as president: “Get over it.”
--TL
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THURSDAY 10/10/24
Biden Has Had Enough – The first confirmed deaths from Hurricane Milton, which hit the west coast of Florida at Level 3 strength Wednesday night, was a result of tornadoes, NPR reports Thursday. President Biden addressed those in the path of Milton and evacuees of Hurricane Helene Wednesday evening from Ray City, Georgia, describing the efforts of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the face of criticism, lies, distortions and conspiracy theories by MAGA Republicans and the Trump/Vance campaign.
“We have made available an unprecedented number of assets to deal with this crisis, and we’re going to continue to do so until the job is done,” Biden said.
“But now I want to be clear about something. Over the last few weeks, there has been a reckless, irresponsible, and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people. It’s undermining confidence in the incredible rescue and recovery work that has already been taken and will continue to be taken, and it’s harmful to those who need help the most.
“There is simply no place for this to happen.
“Former President Trump has led this onslaught of lies. Assertions have been made that property is being confiscated. That’s simply not true.
“They’re saying people impacted by these storms will receive $750 in cash and no more. That’s simply not true.
“They’re saying in — the money is needed to — for the — in the — for this crisis is being diverted to migrants. What a ridiculous thing to say. It’s not true.
Now the claims are getting even more bizarre.
“Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman from Georgia, is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather — we’re controlling the weather. It’s beyond ridiculous. It’s got to stop.
“In moments like this, there are no red or blue states. There’s one United States of America, where neighbors are helping neighbors; volunteers and first responders are risking everything, including their own lives, to help their fellow Americans; state, local, and federal officials are standing side by side.”
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No More Debates – Former President Donald J. Trump has put a definitive end to talk of one more debate with Vice President Kamala Harris before the November 5 election, Politico reports, with this post on his Truth Social network Wednesday: “THERE WILL BE NO REMATCH!” Both Fox News and CNN had offered to conduct another presidential debate.
Harris Endorsement – The Atlantic has given Democrat Kamala Harris only its fifth presidential candidate endorsement since the magazine’s founding in 1857. First was Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1860, then Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964. Calling Republican candidate Donald J. Trump “one of the most personally malignant and politically dangerous candidates in American history,” the magazine has endorsed his Democratic opponents twice before; Hilary Rodham Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa