Sen. Elizabeth Warren is casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s claims that economic growth during his administration has reached historic levels.
“I want to see families do better. But here’s the part that worries me — it’s that many of the statistics about how America is doing were a pretty good barometer back in the 1960s and ‘70s and ‘80s, but but less and less so today,” Warren said during an interview with Boston Public Radio Friday.
“People say unemployment is down, and boy I’m glad to hear that unemployment is down, except you’ve got to pause for a minute," she said. "When it’s down because people are working two and three part-time jobs, that’s not such good economic news. When it’s down because we don’t count all the people who’ve dropped out of the labor force for a whole host of reasons, that’s not very good economic news.”
Analysts say the Labor Department’s May jobs report shows a strong economy with some of the best employment numbers in almost 20 years, and President Trump says that he’s driven stock markets and the economy to historic highs.
“The stock market is rising, everyone says, ’Yay, the stock market is up!’ — only, most Americans don’t have any shares of stocks. Fewer than half of all Americans actually have a share of stock, and that includes in their pension funds,” Warren said. “So a rising stock market leaves behind at least half of America.”
Some political pundits say robust job growth in May could dull any Democratic wave in the upcoming midterm elections, but Warren thinks voters will see beyond the numbers.
“I believe in statistics,” Warren said, “You can live your life there, or you can go out and see how people are living it, day-to-day, and ask them, do you think you’re better off than you were a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago? Do you see a possibility for paying for your kids to go to school? Do you see a possibility of a retirement where you’ll be able to maintain the life that you’ve built right now? Do you see a possibility when the time will come, where your mortgage will be paid off and you ... can kick back a little?”
“For way too many families right here in Massachusetts,” Warren continued, “the answers to those questions are no, no, no and no.”
Warren, who faces no primary competition for re-election, is expected to rally her fellow Democrats at this weekend’s state party convention.
