All political eyes focus on the economy; they should instead look at government. The reason is that, if left alone, the economy does quite well. Yet government rarely leaves it alone or in better shape than it found it.

Last Friday’s employment report (based on BLS’s survey of employers) was notable for its blandness. As BLS’s report stated: “Both nonfarm payroll employment ( 29,000) and the unemployment rate (4.2 percent) changed little in September…Employment in all major industries changed little over the month.” “Little changed” applied to other employment variables: long-term unemployment, labor force participation, and those employed part-time for economic reasons. 

The “little changed” is notable because recent economic data has been pretty solid.  Although last month’s employer survey showed only an increase of 46,000 private sector jobs, a survey of households found 400,000 jobs added; what’s more, since July there have been 1.1 million new entrants into America’s workforce.

In Q2, the economy grew at a real rate of 2.2 percent; this followed 2.5 percent growth in Q1, and 2.1 percent in 2025. 

Last week, American companies reported September’s job cuts were the fewest since 2022 and unemployment benefit applications were the lowest since July. And while manufacturing grew slightly slower, it still grew, continuing a nine-month expansion — its longest run since 2022. Even the inflation bugbear, while not hibernating, moved more slowly.  August........

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