THE ECONOMY – MORE GOOD NEWS – AT 2:30 P.M. ET:  Jobs, jobs, jobs.  From MarketWatch: 

The numbers: The United States created 201,000 new jobs in August, keeping the unemployment rate at an 18-year low and generating the fastest increase in worker pay since the end of the Great Recession.

Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 200,000 increase in new nonfarm jobs.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, was unchanged at 3.9%, the Labor Department said Friday.

The increase in hiring in August was another solid gain that reflects broad strength in an economy that accelerated in the spring and showed little sign of slowing down toward the end of summer.

The biggest news in the August employment report was a sharp increase in pay.

The average wage paid to American workers rose by 10 cents to $27.16 an hour. What’s more, the yearly rate of pay increases climbed to 2.9% from 2.7%, marking the highest level since June 2009.

What happened: White-collar professional firms filled 53,000 positions, bringing the total created over the past 12 months to more than half a million. These are the fastest growing jobs in the country.

And...

Big picture: The economy surged in the spring and is still growing rapidly as the fall approaches.

Most companies are hiring and layoffs have tumbled to a nearly 50-year low.

COMMENT:  The president can take that into the election campaign.  It's the most powerful argument he can make, and there's not much the Democrats can claim in reply.  The Dems will run against Trump the man, not Trump the president. 

Barack Obama was out on the campaign trail today, starting his drive on behalf of Democrats.  I'm not sure it will help them.  Obama's presence will simply remind the country how much better conditions are today than when he was in office.  I don't think he has much magic left.

September 7, 2018