Charlie Hurt: If government pays people to stay home they will

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," May 7, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is progress. And it's a
testament to our new strategy of a growing this economy from the bottom up
and the middle out. And it's a clear testament to why it's so needed. Some
critics said that we didn't need the American Rescue Plan, that this
economy would just heal itself. Today's report just underscores, in my
view, how vital the actions we're taking are.

SEN. PAT TOOMEY, (R-PA): Obviously very disappointing numbers this morning.
We are getting a little Orwellian when it comes to the language we hear
from this administration sometimes. I'm hoping this is an anomaly that we
see with this disappointing jobs number, and that we will be back on a much
more robust path in the coming weeks and months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Well, the president saying this is just part of the progress in the
plan for the U.S. economy and that it's on the right track. Republicans,
other experts saying this was a really bad jobs report, 266,000 jobs added,
6.1 percent unemployment rate. They were expecting 975,000 jobs added for
April, maybe even a million.

What about this and the state of the U.S. economy and where we are headed?
Let's bring in our panel, Charles Hurt, opinion editor for "The Washington
Times," Harold Ford Jr., former Tennessee Congressman, CEO of Empowerment
and Inclusion Capital, and Jonah Goldberg, editor in chief of "The
Dispatch." Jonah, every White House tries to do a little spin. This was
major spin if you are missing it by 900,000 jobs.

JONAH GOLDBERG, "THE DISPATCH": Yes. This was the kind of spin that you
risk internal torsion for. Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to use a phrase
called "iatrogenic government." And it was a reference to when doctors
trying to treat a problem actually create problems.

There is a lot of -- there is a lot of reason to be concerned that the
overly excessive unemployment insurance is actually dampening down demand
for jobs. Not demand from employers but from people not willing to give up
very generous and not -- in many cases necessary -- benefits. And it's a
very weird spin from this administration to say that they have spent
trillions on creating jobs, bragging about the jobs, and then when the jobs
don't materialize, they immediately say, well, that means we have to spend
trillions more.

BAIER: Yes, and so that issue about unemployment benefits keeps on coming
up, and the White House keeps on pushing back. In fact, the treasury
secretary was out, White House press secretary being asked these questions
about unemployment benefits. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY: Starting up an economy again, trying to
get it back on track after a pandemic in which there were a lot of supply
bottlenecks is going to be, I think, a bumpy process. But I really don't
think the major factor is the extra unemployment.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Though some individual employers
may be experiencing increased difficulty finding workers, we haven't seen -
- widespread labor shortages are not yet evident in the data.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: I'm not sure, Harold, how they can say that as far as -- we are
hearing anecdotally from a lot of businesses around the country that are
having a hard time finding workers.

HAROLD FORD JR., FORMER TENNESSEE REPRESENTATIVE: That very well could be
the case. But I served in Congress 10 years, and these big moments remind
me of times when both parties do the easy thing. They both retreat to the
sound and fury and the talking points of the moment.

We should be organizing everything we do economically, everything we do
from a national security standpoint, around the words from our secretary of
state, former, the words of our former CIA director and secretary of
defense Bob Gates who you had on just the other night. This is about a
challenge with China. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that there are
not some issues with the employment force and finding ways to incentivize
people going back to work, but this is a small moment in a huge feature
film here. If we don't figure out ways to invest in the things that we need
to invest in for the next five to 10 to 15 to 20 years of a battle, of a
new cold war, then we are kidding ourselves.

And if we don't find ways to do what Mr. Shriver said a little while ago
about how we find ways to come together, which means that Joe Biden ought
to be focused on a bipartisan deal on infrastructure. He has done the
things he had to do with his own party. It's now time to advance something
that's going to advance the country with broad support, even if that means
coming down from the $1.9 trillion which Democrats have laid out from the
outset.

BAIER: Well, listen, Harold, the fact that you have a lot of people on Wall
Street now saying that the market improved today because they saw the bad
jobs report and said, well, that takes away the concern about the
overheating that a lot of people were worried about, that they are just
pumping tons and tons of money in here and then that it was going to be
super charged. It still may, but that was one of the reasons people thought
the markets went up today.

FORD: It might have been. But if we are going to be in the business trying
to predict what moves these markets, when President Trump was elected that
night, it dropped, and it rose again later the next morning. So the market
can correct itself quickly.

I think what the market wants is some predictability, stability. And I can
promise you this -- if we don't find ways to counter, compete with, and
show that we can beat China, our market won't respond favorably in the
long-term.

BAIER: Charlie, what about this today, big picture?

CHARLES HURT, OPINION EDITOR, "THE WASHINGTON TIMES": Well, I think that
without a doubt you can't ignore the fact that one thing that a lot of
people are not talking about right now is that the jobs numbers has to be
affected somewhat by the fact that so many schools are still closed and a
lot of families plan their working schedule around schools. And when
schools are closed it's kind of hard for you to work.

But there is no doubt that when you pay people to stay home and not work,
if the federal government does that then people are going to stay home and
not work. And the idea that somebody like Janet Yellen is going to sit
there and argue that that has no effect, she really should get out of the
business of economics, because I'm not an economist, but obviously if the
government is going to pay you to do something, people are going to do it.

But I think the most startling thing about all of this is to look at the
enthusiasm on Wall Street and listen to somebody like Joe Biden talk about
how this is all great news when, obviously, it's not great news. And
honestly, I think that what Wall Street is seeing is they look at the
southern border and they see thousands and thousands of people, they view
that as cheap labor coming across the border, and that's why they think
that this is so great. It doesn't bother them that Americans are not going
back to work, not finding good employment, not finding good jobs, as long
as they get cheap labor coming into this country. And Joe Biden is doing
nothing to stop it, that's great for them, as far as their concerned.

BAIER: Yes, I don't think a lot of people are surprised when people that
make more by staying home are choosing to stay home.

All right, winners and losers here. Jonah?

GOLDBERG: My winner this week are the divorce attorneys for Bill and
Melinda Gates. They are going to do just great. And my loser is Washington,
D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser who has decided that in order to prime the
economy she is going to cast D.C. as the set for the new version of
"Footloose" by banning dancing.

(LAUGHTER)

BAIER: All right, Harold, winner and loser?

FORD: My winner is the Detroit River -- that was good, Jonah. My winner is
the Detroit River and the sturgeon fish family. Seven feet, 240 pounds,
huge and experienced, 100 years old. This female fish was found back in
1900. There were 500,000 sturgeon in the Detroit River. Today only 7,000.
But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife preservation believe this find means good
things.

My loser, those governors who want to stop people from voting, Florida,
Texas. Let's win on ideas, not by suppressing the vote.

BAIER: All right, Charlie, winner and loser?

HURT: Winner is the Olympian formerly known as Bruce Jenner who is one of
the greatest athletes of all time, made a name for himself that way, and
now looks like maybe on a path to become California's first female
governor, which is truly, truly remarkable. Only in California.

Loser of the week are the pharmaceutical companies who perform miracles by
inventing these vaccines. Joe Biden is colluding with the World Health
Organization to strip them of their patents. File that under no good deed
goes unpunished.

BAIER: There you go. Panel, sounds good. Thank you. Make it a great
weekend.

When we come back, "Notable Quotables."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: It's Friday, you know what that means, "Notable Quotables."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think of one thing, I
think of jobs, jobs, jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like a big disappointment at 266. But maybe I
have that wrong. Yes, 266 is correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have not gotten to this if it were still the last
president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really? That's hard to believe because the last
president was saying I want every kid back in school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't like virtual.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You didn't?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you were like really tired, then we could take a
little nap.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's clear that not enough is being done. Arizona is
bearing the brunt of this crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trillions of cicadas are coming. Some people actually
eat them. I'm not one of them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here you go Mexican racist. You are always going to be
a Mexican. You'll never be white. You know that right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe you go home and kiss your grandmother and wind up
killing your grandmother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Taliban are gaining ground every single day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most urgent challenge that we face is COVID-19.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're prohibiting private money from basically running
the elections like these Zucker-bucks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liz Cheney's greatest offense apparently is she is
principled and she believes in the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can change a diaper with one hand and console a
crying toddler with the other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want people leading this state. I feel like I'm
on a big white horse riding into the state and saying hey, stay, stay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hate to admit this yes. I don't shower that much
anymore.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: There you go, one week.

Monday on SPECIAL REPORT, we take an in-depth work at the Virginia's
governor race as Republican candidates line up for a chance to bring that
state, the commonwealth, back into the red column.

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for this SPECIAL
REPORT, fair, balanced, and still unafraid. Got a busy week ahead next
week. Make it a great weekend. FOX NEWS PRIMETIME hosted by Pete Hegseth
this week starts right now. Hey, Pete.

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