From today's weaker than expected jobs report to the president rebranding the Pentagon,

it's been another jam-packed week of news. For analysis, we turn now to the analysis of Brooks and Bowie.

That's David Brooks and Jamel Bowie, both columnists at the New York Times.

Jonathan Capehart is away this evening. It's good to see you both. So as we reported, the August jobs report is out today,

and the numbers are fairly bleak. The U.S. economy added just 22,000 jobs last month, well short

of forecasts. The unemployment rate ticked up to its highest number in four years. A setback for

President Trump, David, but it could, on the other hand, bolster his argument that the Fed should cut interest rates when it meets later this month. How do you see it? Well, inflation is still over what the Fed wants. It's 2.9 and they set a target of two. So they're in a bit of a pickle and they might cut a little about 25 basis points, but it's hard to see them cutting a lot more because of the inflation threat. This is caused by, As Austin Gouldily sort of suggested earlier in the program, I think it's called by uncertainty about the tariffs, but then also the cuts in immigration. Twenty-25 could be the first year in American history where America loses population. And immigrants, whether you like high immigration or don't, they're an economic boom to the country. And if you take away all that labor, you're taking away a source of economic strength.

One of the things that was more interesting about the report was that the number of manufacturing

jobs lost last month was 12,000, and then it breaks the total number of lost manufacturing jobs

under the Trump administration of 78,000 people. That's not what he was promising when he's running.

So he's really not helping.

And finally, the most depressing thing for me, and the most concerning is attitudes about

what's happening. The Wall Street Journal had a poll out earlier this week where they asked

people, do you think there's a chance, any chance your living standard will go up? Only 25%

of Americans say that. That's the lowest level since 1986.

Something weird has happened about people's view of the country and the economy.

There's a way to predict how people will view the economy based on economic statistics.

And up until COVID, the statistics and the consumer sentiment rose and fall together.

After COVID, they're totally diverged. The economic statistics look pretty good, but the people's view of the economy is cratering,

and that's just a generalized loss of faith, the growth of pessimism. And Jamel, for the first time

since 2021, there are now more unemployed Americans than job openings. What does that tell us about

the direction of the labor market and how does it shape the larger political debate?

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