Nonfarm payroll growth was slower than expected in July and the unemployment rate ticked higher, raising potential trouble signs for the U.S. labor market.

More here: cnb.cx/40KXtPs

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— CNBC (@cnbc.com) 1 August 2025 at 14:11

US job growth sharply slows in July, unemployment rate ticks higher reut.rs/44Ztki2

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— Reuters (@reuters.com) 1 August 2025 at 14:10

"Job growth totalled 73,000 for the month, above the June total of 14,000 but below even the meagre Dow Jones estimate for a gain of 100,000. June and May totals were revised sharply lower, down by a combined 258,000 from previously announced levels. At the same time, the unemployment rate rose to 4.2%, in line with the forecast."

• June was revised down from 147,000 to 14,000.
• May was revised down from 144,000 to 19,000.

But the stock market! Disaster numbers, Lol.

It is sad but at the same time also funny.

Donald Trump to fire US labour statistics boss after weak jobs report

Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved from the federal prison in Florida where she was incarcerated to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, which is the same facility where convicted Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes is serving her sentence.

I genuinely thought you was making a sarcastic joke, I laughed, then I saw you was actually reporting on news.

Live Updates: After a Weak Jobs Report, Trump Says He’s Firing That Agency’s Commissioner - The New York Times

Lmfao! Hahahaha.

Next Jobs Report: Job Growth +9m.

So she has been moved to a luxury prison?

Trump transfers Ghislaine from Florida to cush Texas club fed camp as initial inducement to exonerate Trump as negotiation for pardon/commutation continues nypost.com/2025/08/01/u...

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— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) 1 August 2025 at 17:16

"Camp Bryan sits on 37 acres about 100 miles north of Houston. It is home to some famous white-collar criminals, including Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of Theranos, and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Star Jen Shah."

Read more at: www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

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— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) 1 August 2025 at 18:09

So blatantly trying to cut a deal and give a more comfortable life to a child sex trafficker.

In US-adjacent news, El Salvador is considering allowing President Bukkake, the guy who is loaning out his concentration camp to Trump, to serve indefinitely. Trump has to be loving that news on several levels. One of his kindred fascist souls will continue to be at his disposal, and no doubt he wants to be president for life himself.

These numbers kind of blew my mind, but it definitely puts Powell in a tough spot. With inflation ticking up again, Powell has had a pretty easy decision when it came to holding rates steady because the job market has looked strong. Now the numbers are showing huge red flags in the job market. 

Does he cut rates and risk inviting another inflation spike or does he hold steady and risk watching the bottom fall out on the jobs market?

Just three days ago the Fed decided to hold rates steady saying this: 

"The unemployment rate remains low, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated."

I don't know if they would have said labor market conditions remain solid if this was released after those revisions came out. With the next meeting in mid September, all eyes will be on the next Employment Situation release. If the pattern of downward revisions continues, a rate cut seems likely. 

In other economy related news, preliminary Q2 GDP estimates came in at 3%. Now, in a vacuum, 3% is pretty good. The issue is that this was supposed to be a bounce back quarter. First quarter got hammered by imports trying to beat the tariff craze, so second quarter was supposed to rubber band due to a decline in imports. That did happen, yet the number was still only 3%? What is going on:

Well, pretty much all the other data is bad. For comparison, here is the advance estimate for Q1 (updated numbers that I found didn't include this breakdown):

Q1 was destroyed by Imports, cutting 5% from GDP, but strong investment did a lot of work stabilizing that decline. Q2 saw decreased imports buoying GDP but Investment really fell off. Unless investment ticks back up again, once imports stabilize after burning that Q1 inventory, GDP numbers could get pretty ugly pretty quickly...

The economy seems to be flashing a lot of warning lights right about now

The US isn't merely complicit, it's been driving the genocide / ethnic cleansing

US House Speaker Johnson says West Bank ‘rightful property’ of Jewish people: Republican official

Earlier, we reported that US House Speaker Mike Johnson has travelled to the illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel in the occupied West Bank, a visit organised by a pro-Israeli advocacy group.

Johnson hailed the land’s religious significance during a luncheon with local leaders and said he believes Jewish people have a “right” to it due to his religious beliefs, according to Israel’s Arutz Sheva media.

Johnson has close ties to the evangelical community in the US, segments of which believe Jewish people must be in control of Jerusalem for the second coming of Jesus.

“Every corner of this land is important to us,” Johnson said, in comments carried by Arutz Sheva.

“Being here, in the place where our faith began – this has great significance. The Bible teaches that Judea and Samaria were promised to the Jewish people, and they belong to you by right,” he added, using the Israeli term for the occupied West Bank.

The chairman of Republicans Oversees Israel, Marc Zell, also said he attended the event, posting on X that Johnson said “the mountains of Judea and Samaria are the rightful property of the Jewish People”.

Speaker Mike Johnson, now addressing the conference in Ariel, is the highest ranking U.S. federal official to visit Judea and Samaria. Amazing! pic.twitter.com/qNeu1yFwCI

— Marc Zell (@GOPIsrael) August 4, 2025

The Trump administration is so spineless that they can't bring themselves to tell their president that drug prices can't be cut by more than 100%. Which of course makes the president look like an idiot on TV every time he repeats his outright stupid numbers, and that in turn makes everyone in administration look like an idiot too. And of course it confirms all the Americans who voted this president as idiots too.

Journalists must be seriously scared of Trump, because any normal human being would burst out laughing during these interviews with the president. The first amendment is approaching the end of its road, and now at this stage where it still could be saved, America lacks the heroes who are up to the task.