East Bronx History Forum highlights
“Last Call” January 16th 1920. Photo courtesy of Tomas X. Casey
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, S BTR EPTEMBER 6-12, 2019 55
Action
Association
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
The intense drive on the
part of the U.S. media to convince
the public that a recession
is in the near future is
meant to diminish recognition
of President Trump’s signature
achievement: the revival
of the moribund U.S.
economy.
It is the ultimate dirty political
trick, because the victims
extend far beyond an opposition
candidate.
Kimberly Amadeo, writing
in The Balance, reports
that “The U.S. economic outlook
is healthy according to
the key economic indicators…
There isn’t too much infl ation
or defl ation. That’s a Goldilocks
economy.”
Unemployment is at nearrecord
lows. Unemployment
for African Americans is at record
lows. The growth in jobs
in industries such as manufacturing
have been astounding.
As noted in Forbes, In the
fi nal 26 months of Obama’s
presidency, manufacturing
employment increased barely
0.8%. In President Trump’s
fi rst 26 months, it grew 3.9%,
399% more jobs than Obama’s
record.
In another area, mining,
even labor leaders have
praised Trump for his success.
In an interview with The
Hill Cecil Roberts, president
of the United Mine Workers
of America, it was noted that
“According to a 2018 report
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
an estimated 2,000 new
coal jobs were created during
Trump’s fi rst year in offi ce”
and the once nose-diving labor
picture there has fi nally
stabilized.”
Wage growth across the
board continues to be a positive
note.
The economy is considered
to be in the best condition
in the past 19 years, with the
highest confi dence rating in
the past 14.
The signifi cant threat to
the economy from China’s rapacious
policies of restricted
access to its markets, intellectual
property theft, dumping
and other practices, long
ignored by Washington, is
fi nally being addressed by
the White House. While this
could result in some temporary
issues, the long-term result
will be a signifi cant boost
for the U.S. economy.
Stephen Moore stated in a
Heritage Foundation/Washington
Times study that “Beijing’s
abusive trade practices
and theft of U.S. intellectual
property ($300 billion stolen
per year), are intolerable. In
the short term, the trade dispute
is bad for growth, bad for
consumers and bad for stocks.
But if/when Mr. Trump prevails
and gets the concessions
from China, the market upside
is gigantic and that’s what
isn’t being discounted into the
market today.”
Moore’s analysis explains
that “The United States is simply
a better place to invest in
today than it was two years
ago. If/when Mr. Trump prevails
and gets the concessions
from China, the market upside
is gigantic and that’s what
isn’t being discounted into the
market today. There’s an old
saying that Wall Street economists
have predicted eight of
the last two recessions. The
bears in the economics profession
keep getting paid a lot
of money misreading the nation’s
economic weather vanes
— whether it was the power
and durability of the Reagan
expansion in the 1980s, the ferocious
bull market of the late
1990s, the after-effects of the
9/11 attacks, or most recently
the phenomenal revival of
growth in President Trump’s
fi rst years in offi ce… Equally
fl awed is the idea that the economic
recovery has been going
on for a decade and is now
running out of gas. No, the
boom began on Nov. 8, 2016,
not in 2009. The recovery was
anemic in the Obama years.
One reason Art Laffer, Larry
Kudlow and I were so confi -
dent in our predictions to candidate
Donald Trump that we
could get four or fi ve years of
3 to 4 percent growth was that
the recovery from the Great
Recession was so fl at.”
Despite the solid indicators
of a healthy economy, a
biased media, intent on taking
down the Trump Administration,
continues to push the
idea that a recession is looming.
It’s more than just poor
journalism. The type of fear
generated by that incorrect
reporting can lead to a lack of
confi dence that actually could
spur a recession. In an analysis
for the Federal Reserve,
David S. Miller warns “It’s
hard to predict recessions. We
haven’t had many, and we don’t
fully understand the causes of
the ones we’ve had. Nevertheless,
we persist in trying.”
As Joseph Valle reported
in Newsbusters that the leftist
media hyped recession fears
every single day in June and
July. “…at least one journalist
openly sided with left-wing comedian
Bill Maher who wants
a recession to get rid of President
Donald Trump. NBC’s
Richard Engel chimed in
“Short-term pain might be better…
after Maher said ‘I really
do’ want a recession on HBO’s
Real Time with Bill Maher
Aug. 9. A recession is generally
considered two quarters
or more of negative economic
growth. That hasn’t stopped
the media from pushing “dark
clouds” and the likelihood of a
recession coming soon, possibly
even before the 2020 election.
That could have serious
consequences if economist
Mohamed El-Erian was correct
when he warned “we’ve
got to be careful because we
can talk ourselves into a recession.”
Gregory Daco, writing in
The Hill warns that “We must
not turn recession fears into
self-fulfi lling prophecies.”
BY THOMAS X. CASEY
The picture dated January
16, 1920 tells the whole
story; it’s the last day to buy
alcohol in the USA In fact,
on January 17, 1920 the Eighteenth
Amendment to the US
Constitution banned the sale
and consumption of alcohol
throughout the entire United
States until 1933. Unless,
Shhhhhh, I know a place in
the Bronx.
The East Bronx History
Forum will hold its 141st
meeting on Wednesday, September
18 at the Huntington
Free Library at 7:30 p.m.
Know the password and you
are in, but remember, mum’s
the word.
While many people had to
deal with the lack of a 5 cent
beer, entrepreneuring Bronxites
devised many ways to
smuggle booze via the many
coastal inlets. Westchester
Square was no exception and
had numerous road houses
and speak-easies to assist
with distribution.
The East Bronx History
Forum is pleased to have two
of the most renowned Bronx
bootleggers, I mean urban archaeologist
and investigators
to lead a presentation ‘Bronx
Bootleggers, Road Houses
and Speakeasies.’
Robert Apuzzo has written
a few books on local archaeological
fi nds and guide
books on early bottles. Bob
also owns his ‘Bronx’ tugboat
which he pilots around the
back waters of the Bronx. He
researched the various ways
by land and sea the bootleggers
got their booze and into
the Bronx. He will be joined
by East Bronx History Forum
vice president and retired
NYPD offi cer Tom
Vasti still tracking down the
gangsters that ran the Bronx
and the places that sold the
illegal beer and liquor. It is
estimated that over 100,000
speakeasies operated in NYC
from 1920 to 1933, but the focus
will be on the most prominent
and luxurious joints in
the East Bronx.
Please do not BYOB because
the Huntington Free
Library is still a dry house,
but join us at 9 Westchester
Square.
The library is next to the
Apple Bank and street parking
is free after 7 p.m. All
meetings are free and open
to the public and please view
the East Bronx History Forum
web page at BronxNYC.
com, or follow us on Facebook