The Daily Signal - School Shooter’s Father Charged, Stocks Fall, Elon Musk to Lead ‘Government Efficiency Commission’ | Sept. 6

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

Description:  TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: Employers added 142,000 jobs in August, but economists had anticipated more. The 14-year-old Georgia school shooter and his father have been charged in the shooting that left four people dead.  Kamala Harris says she does not support banning plastic straws.  If Trump wins the election in November, he says he will consider appointing Elon Musk to lead a “government efficiency commission.” ABC has denied The Daily Signal Press credentials at the presidential debate.  Plus, a Friday movie review of “The Searchers.” Relevant Links Listen to other podcasts from The Daily Signal: https://www.dailysignal.com/podcasts/ Get daily conservative news you can trust from our Morning Bell newsletter: DailySignal.com/morningbellsubscription   Listen to more Heritage podcasts: https://www.heritage.org/podcasts Sign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agenda Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jobs numbers are down and so is the stock market. I'm Virginia Allen and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Friday, September 6th. The latest jobs report came out this morning and brought with it some disappointing news. Employers added 142,000 jobs in August, but economists had anticipated more. This is the second month in a row that jobs numbers were down. So what exactly was going on here? Here with us to discuss is the director of the Heritage Foundation Center for the federal budget. Richard Stern. Richard, thanks for being with us. Oh, is a pleasure. Thanks for having me on. So, Richard, explain what exactly is happening here. Why are these jobs numbers so much

lower than professionals had anticipated? Well, you know, this is what happens whenever the government tries to strangle the economy, is that things start breaking. You usually can ever predict exactly when they would break. And if you are that good at doing that, you're one of the handful of people who makes a lot money in the stock market and doesn't lose it immediately. So, you know, what's happening here, right, is that the economy has been struggling under more regulations, more taxes, more government spending and money printing, which is causing the inflation that everyone's been seeing or has been harming everybody's pocketbooks. So what's been happening here, of course, is that means that

businesses are having a harder time getting investment capital, keeping their doors open, expanding operations, and expanding employment opportunities. And the result, of course, is that the, sluggish job growth. Now, I think I think is interesting about it, which is that obviously, you know, an enormous amount of the jobs that are being created, and I put air quotes around this over the last year and kind of four years, have been government jobs or industries heavily subsidized by government. Now, here's the reason I put air quotes around that, because those are jobs paid for with newly printed dollars, which means that while it feels like it's a real job, then the people that are doing it certainly are giving up their time and energy to work.

The truth is the money they're being paid is losing its purchasing power because of inflation, because the dollars are printed. So it looks like economic growth, but really it's an echo in the future that'll be paid for of inflation in the next year or so. Well, and Richard, with some of these new numbers, we've seen that certain categories of jobs are being affected more than others specifically. we saw a lot of decline in manufacturing jobs. Do we know why that is? Yeah, exactly. I think that's one of those worrying things. So, you know, there's a lot of parts of the economy that's dependent on each other, of course. And one of the key parts, of course, is manufacturing. Because if you think through, you know, even, you know, what you and I are doing right now needs a lot of equipment. We need the microphones and recording devices and all of that. And in fact, every service job relies on some good that was produced at some point in time. So manufacturing is often thought of as being kind of a canary in the mine shaft, so to speak, about the overall economy.

And while the jobs report is 142,000 jobs created, we lost 24,000 manufacturing jobs in this report. And the truth is, if you go back over the revisions that have happened, you know, revising down the job growth estimates by over 800,000 jobs, many of those are manufactured jobs. So it's a real indicator that at the foundational level of the economy, we're not producing the actual things you need to sustain long-term economic growth, whether that's, you know, the equipment we're using or it's food that's on grocery store shelves or, frankly, even just construction equipment. I mean, you know, this is part of why housing is so expensive is because it's so hard and getting so much more expensive to build a home, let alone factories or office buildings or anything else in that nature. And when you look at the breakdown of part-time versus full-time jobs, added, lost, what are we looking at there? Yeah, so I think, you know, one of the troubling things about this, of course, is, you know, the overall labor forces, as you'd imagine, is up, you know, a little bit over 1% over the last year. So, you know, not very good, not the worst thing imaginable. But I'll tell you the thing that's very interesting about it.

So we keep track of two different part-time numbers. So there's most people that are part-time employed, which are what are considered part-time employed for non-economic reasons. So these are people that when they're surveyed say, it's not that I wanted full-time work, it's what I want it part-time. They're semi-retired, their homemakers, what have you. But then there's a group of people who, when they're surveyed, they say, no, I'm part-time for what are called economic reasons in formal government statistics.

Those people are people who want full-time work and can't find it. that group of people has jumped 20% in the last year. So that's a very worrying sign, right, that you have this massive increase in the proportion of people who want full-time work, who are trying to find full-time work, and all they can get their hands on is part-time work. So we know today, obviously, with those numbers out, there's a lot of reaction from Americans,

but those numbers trickle down into the economy. And specifically, we saw a trickle down into the stock market today. The S&P fell 1%. And overall, it had its worst week since March of 2023. Why was the stock market so negatively affected by these new jobs numbers? So what I always tell people is that, you know, a lot of people have different notions of what the stock market is. Most people, of course, think of it as being numbers that go up wildly and go down wildly. But, you know, the stock market serves a very important role in the economy. It is a long-term assessment of the value of the things we produce now. So, you know, if you think through what is the economy, it's the dollar value of all the

stuff we're currently producing, you know, new houses being constructed or, you know, new, you know, canned soup on a store shelf, the stock market is an attempt at assessing what is the value of the offices, the factories, the productive stuff that we have over the long run. So when the stock market's down, what it is telling you is that the market consensus is a dimmer future, is less production in the future, fewer incomes and job opportunities in the future, and that's what you're seeing here. And I'd add as well that as much as the market was down 1%, and, you know, the market's been a little shaky here and there. The other thing to keep in mind is, you know, most of these economic numbers are inflation adjusted, right? So they're telling you the real

purchasing power value of all these different numbers. The stock market is not an inflation adjusted number. So it's down 1% if you don't adjust for inflation. But if you address for inflation, the stock market has been flat for three and a half years. And that is a very damning sign about the market's consensus in terms of their lack of optimism about the economy. Certainly an issue. We are all feeling Heritage Foundation Director of the Center for the Federal Budget. Richard Stern. Richard, thanks for your time as always.

And thank you so much as all. It was a pleasure. The 14-year-old Georgia school shooter and his father have, been charged in the shooting that left four people dead. The shooting took place Wednesday. Two students and two teachers were killed at Appalachie High School in Winter, Georgia. Both the young man and his father were in court this morning. The young man has been charged with four counts of murder, and his father is charged with involuntary manslaughter and second degree murder. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey says the father's charges are directly connected

with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon. And this isn't the first time that we've seen parents charged in a case related to the actions of their child. Earlier this year, a Michigan mother and father were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison after their son shot and killed four students in 2021. That's according to the Associated Press. The judge has set the hearing in the Georgia case for December 4th. We have 59 days until the 11th. election, and that means the candidates have less than two months to communicate their policy positions to voters. And this week, Harris told voters where she stands on an issue that affects

us all. Plastic Straws. In 2019, during a CNN Town Hall, Harris was asked if plastic straws should be banned. She answered, I think we should. We do need to ban the plastic straws. Axios wanted to know if Harris still holds this policy position. and according to the Harris campaign, she doesn't support banning plastic straws. The Trump campaign continues to bring up Harris' former policy stances like this one and her support for things like banning fracking. But just like plastic straws, Harris says she no longer supports a ban on fracking. Some journalists and commentators are tracking Harris' various policy positions and her switches on those. In fact, according to Chris Saliza, who wrote on X that Harris has

change policy positions on a lot of things. He gives a list of nine items that Harris has flip-flopped on, including reparations for slavery and building a wall at the southern border. If Trump wins the election in November, he says that he will consider appointing billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to lead a government efficiency commission. Trump gave remarks at the economic club in New York this week, and Trump said that Musk has agreed to oversee a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and would make recommendations for drastic reforms. That's according to deadline. Elon Musk responded on X saying, I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.

Musk talked about a need for a government efficiency commission during his conversation on X with Trump last month. I mean, I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and just ensures that the taxpayer money, the taxpayers' hard-earned money is spent in a good way. And I'd be happy to help out on such a commission if it were formed. Musk endorsed Trump after the failed assassination attempt on the former president. Trump and Harris will be on stage to debate their policy positions before the nation, next Tuesday night. ABC News is hosting that debate, and the Daily Signal requested press credentials to be present in Philadelphia to cover the debate. But ABC has denied the Daily Signal those

press credentials. ABC said that due to space limitations, the Daily Signal would not be granted press credentials to attend the debate in person. Daily Signal President Rob Bluey says very bluntly, this is BS. Rob wrote on X, ABC News, ABC News, news could no doubt accommodate one credential, but has instead decided to deny us access to one of the most important events of the 2024 election. Ironically, the DNC used the same pathetic excuse to keep our reporters out of its convention in Chicago last month. The legacy media gatekeepers want to maintain their grip on power at the expense of newer media outlets. All the more reason to never again have these biased broadcast networks host a president.

debate. But don't worry, the Daily Signal is still going to be covering that debate. We're going to be covering it live right here from Washington, D.C. So make sure you're following the Daily Signal on YouTube, Rumble, and across all social media platforms. And of course, be checking out our website, dailyciginal.com on the night of the debate next Tuesday. Some of the most quoted lines in movie history come from John Wayne films. His movie is really revolutionized movies in general, film in general. and certainly made Americans fall in love with Westerns. So this Friday for our film review,

we have a great John Wayne classic to talk with us and a John Wayne enthusiast here to talk with us. Hans von Sikoski is a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation. And we are talking, Hans, about the 1956 Western, The Searchers, 1956, that's going way back. Well, it is, but a lot of people, including the American Film Institute, consider it the greatest Western ever made.

Really? Yeah, and the director was John Ford. John Ford is also considered probably one of the greatest directors at the Golden Age of Hollywood. And this movie really was a masterpiece. It is a Western. It was filmed in color in Monument Valley. And I've actually seen it on the big screen, and it is just spectacular. For folks who haven't been there, Monument Valley is very famous.

It has the 400,000-foot sandstone towers in it. It's part of the Navajo Nation, although actually there's a very small hotel, general store, right outside of the reservation where John Wayne and his crew and John Ford all used to stay when they made movies out there. I've actually been there and stayed there. That is really, really cool. How neat. So give us the premise for this movie.

Sure. The premise of the movie is that John Wayne returns to Texas in 1868. He was in the Civil War. He's a veteran. Nobody quite knows what he's been doing since the end of the war. But he returns to visit his brother. His brother is married, has three children, two girls and a boy. I don't want to give a lot away. But basically, John Wayne is off of their ranch when there is a raid by Comanchees. The Comanchees kill his brother, kill his sister-in-law, kill his nephew, but kidnap the two girls. Like I said, stars John Wayne. It was interesting. Natalie Wood is in it very young, and her sister, Lana Wood. Lana Wood was much younger than Natalie Wood, and she plays Natalie Wood's character as a young girl with Natalie Wood playing her as an older girl. Wow. So John Wayne sets out to find the two girls and the movie is all about his search. And you know, it's a very, I mean, it's just a terrific movie. And he is a very conflicted character because at the very same time that he's searching to try to get them back, he's obviously driven

by revenge. And a real, I mean, he displays an unbelievable hatred for the Comanche's. Yet at the very same time, he speaks their language, he knows their culture, he knows their religious beliefs, and you have to wonder, well, how does he know all that? Did he live with the Comanches? And the chief of the Comanchees is like an alter ego of him with the very same attitudes he does. For those who think this might not be a realistic movie, actually, it's based on a short story written by a man named LeMay, who studied actual cases of kidnappings. Really? Of members of frontier families before he decided to base it loosely on an actual story of

an African-American teamster whose wife and two children were kidnapped by the Comanches. He actually got them back in 1865, but then continued to, to search for another kidnapped girl and unfortunately was killed by Kiowa's in 1871. But it is just a spectacular movie and the scenery itself is worth seeing it. Well, it sounds like such a well-crafted script to take that much time in consideration. Well, it is. And again, because John Ford started making movies in the silent air, by 1956, he was just a master. And in fact, this movie has been so influential that numerous directors, you know, everyone from

Sam Peckinpott or Martin Scorsese to Steve and Spielberg to George Lucas have all said that this movie greatly influenced what they did. In fact, folks who've seen the original Star Wars movie, remember there's a scene where when Luke goes back to his homestead and finds that his aunt and uncle have. have been killed. The homestead is burning by, has been burned by the Stormtroopers. That is a scene that George Lucas copied right out of the movie The Searchers. Wow, that is really neat. Well, we all have our homework for the weekend to go watch this movie. Hans, I'm displaying my ignorance a little bit of John Wayne. Was this one of the first movies that really thrust him

into the spotlight? No, the movie that thrust him into the spotlight was actually another movie directed by John Ford in 1939 called Stagecoach. Okay. All right. That was the movie that did it. And this movie, in 1956, was actually the fourth western of a very famous, if you talk to folks in Hollywood, they'll immediately know what you're talking about. John Ford made three movies, all starring John Wayne, that are known as the Cavalry

Trilogy. He made them in 1948, 1949, and 1950, and it's called, the... Fort Apache, she wore yellow ribbon, and Rio Grande. And those are also terrific movies. But this one, the searchers, like I said, any list you see of the top movies that Hollywood has ever made, that movie is always either in the top five or the top ten. Well, Hans, thank you. I'm excited to watch this movie. Now, I appreciate the recommendation. Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal follow at the Heritage Foundation and movie expert, John Wayne expert. Appreciate it, Hans. Thank you very much.

Well, before we go today, a quick announcement, as we said earlier in the show, there is a very important debate happening on Tuesday. It's going to be quite the political showdown of the year. Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern, the Daily Sleadle team is going to be bringing you live coverage of that presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. And you can watch it all, all of our commentary and the debate itself, on YouTube X4, daily signal.com starting right at 8 p.m. Eastern. But thank you so much for joining us on today's podcast. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on any of our shows.

And if you haven't had a chance, would you take a minute to leave the Daily Signal podcast a five-star rating and review? We love hearing your feedback and that really helps to spread the word to other listeners. Join us back here on Monday morning. Elizabeth Mitchell is going to be sitting down with a parent whose child was greatly and tragically, affected by the transgender ideology movement. Make sure to catch that conversation on Monday. And have a fantastic weekend. We'll see you right back here next week.

The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Bluey and Katrina Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Tyler O'Neill, and Elizabeth Mitchell. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, John Pop and Joseph von Spakovsky. To learn more or support our work, please visit dailysignal.com.