Mr. Rattner can share his charts and statistics all he wants. Working people know that Trump delivered on the economy and they are lined up to vote for him in 2020.
The Obama economy was pretty weak and pathetic, like most of everything that came out of that administration. The very rich and the very poor did well during his eight years while the middle class saw their manufacturing jobs disappear along with their healthcare and standard of living.
No amount of revisionist history on the part of Mr. Rattner will change that.
21
@Melissa M.
Really? Healthcare disappeared? In what reality? We got Obamacare which gave healthcare to millions eliminating pre-existing conditions and allowed us to insure our kids until the age of 26. I am middle class and did very well under the Obama administration!
96
@Melissa M.
You're making this up, or maybe you're just dreaming.
73
@Melissa M.
@Melissa M.
"...share his charts and statistics all he wants"
This seems to show a worrying willingness to discard factual information.
The data behind each of your assertions (manufacturing jobs, healthcare, and standard of living) is measured and can be plotted on a graph. These tend to either be unflattering to the Trump administration, or show a simple continuation of the trend started under Obama. To your particular points:
Middle class manufacturing
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES3000000006
Note that the overall increase began in 2009, and is now somewhat underperforming the trend set from 2009-2017 (in the Obama era). This graph is specifically for production and nonsupervisory workers (middle class).
Healthcare
It is extremely difficult to argue that the ACA resulted in any kind of increase in the uninsured population, full stop. The uninsured rate has factually increased somewhat under Trump. Lots of data to choose from, but here's one with a specific breakdown by income:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/246134/uninsured-rate-rises-four-year-high.aspx
Standard of living:
That's a less well-defined stat, but GDP per capita is generally accepted as a proxy. With that premise, Trump is on trend with the overall post-recession increase (no more, no less).
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-per-capita
Set the time scale to "max" for a clearer overall perspective.
48
President Obama fixed a Republican economic mess. We’re not going to wait eight years this time before we elect a Democrat to fix all the messes this little man leaves behind and it will probably be a woman.
5
The 2018 midterm results reflection of Trump's failed economic program. Trump promised to bring back the buffalo and no one can do that.
Now the trade war is headed to create a worldwide deflatiop
4
I'm not an economist by any stretch. What both bothers me and irritates the most is that we have yet another GOP Administration handed an expanding economy without any investment back into the country by way of infrastructure spending or otherwise. There is no plan, it's simply day to day. It took them 8 years last time to run us off of an economic cliff before they handed the keys to our first African America President, then screamed bloody murder about debts and deficits. Trump has just accelerated the process with the GOP, no corrections to health care, no infrastructure spending, but simply "redistributed" the wealth upwards with a targeted tax cut. Perhaps 2020 will give us our first female President (EW) to come in a clean up with a GOP Senate? Good luck to anyone who depends on government subsidies or programs.
5
The single most important issue Trump has taken on, and this is not just economic, is escalating the trade war with China.
Obama, Bush 43 and 41, Clinton and all our US business leaders - most particularly Rattner and his ilk of rapacious plutocrats - have been selling the American people out for decades. It is about time someone called them out for their betrayal of working Americans.
As disjointed, discombobulated, erratic and ill-thought out Trump's trade war may be - he is actually raising the absolutely, positively horrible stance we in the West have taken in dealing with China. We have enabled a totalitarian, slave labor, fascist state to rise unchecked - all for a mass of cheap consumer goods and clothes. And all of this hollowed out the US's industrial strength. Elites like Rattner - and many of us readers of the NYT's - have benefited from China's rise, but at what costs to working and middle class Americans and to the march of freedom?
We have been long overdue for a re-evaluation of US trade policies - and Trump is the only one making this an issue that other leaders here and around the world should start contending with.
What a superficial analysis and false analysis.
In 2017 and 2018, 100% of the jobs that Trump created were full time jobs. By comparison, only 70% of the jobs that Obama created were fulltime jobs.
Further, not only were 100% of the jobs that Trump created fulltime jobs, Trump escalated 700,000 of the part-time jobs to full-time jobs.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAYEMS
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS12500000
Trump created 3.1 million fulltime jobs in 2018, 100% more than the 1.56 million fulltime jobs that Obama created in 2016.
As a result of these fulltime jobs, real disposable personal income increased by $597 billion, 240% of the increase of $244 billion in 2016.
These two numbers aren't in the same universe.
In 2013, Obama put a huge tax increase upon successful small businesses. Here are the growth in total federal tax revenues by calendar year after that tax increase:
2013: 12%
2014: 8%
2015: 4%
2016: a negative 1%
Obama left Trump a death spiral.
Just go to BLS CES 0500000001 ... total private employment, and compare the number of jobs added over Trump's first 31 months in office .. vs .. Obama's last 31 months in office. Trump lags well behind Obama .. by 6 figures.
Trump called the economy and job growth under Obama a "disaster". Well, if that's a disaster, what does that make Trump?
4
Jobs created in 31 months:
Previous administration: 7,135,000
This administration: 5,988,000
Difference so far: 1,147,000 fewer jobs this administration
Source: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001?output_view=net_1mth
Projection for 48 months: 1,776,000 jobs (almost two million fewer jobs this administration)
With both chambers of congress and the Supreme Court on its side, and despite a tax cut of 5% of GDP (with a multiplier of 0.20?), this administration has not been able to match the previous administration’s job creation numbers.
Unemployed July 2019: 6,063,000
Source:
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.a.htm
3
President Obama steered this country away from a Depression and handed a growth economy with a strong foundation to Trump. Had Hillary Clinton been elected, we would have seen prosperity based on the foundation Obama put in place also. Maybe more prosperity. The only difference would be that our trade and foreign policies would actually be effective, our borders quiet, our institutions strong and our elections secure and equal rights assured as well as our health care. Our environment wouldn’t be going into the toilet based on greed and ignorance. Oh, Hillary would be viciously attacked on a daily basis by the right but blessedly, we wouldn’t be subjected to the hourly ravings of a lunatic.
1
I am sorry, but this is just nonsense.
Econ 101
What counts for an individual, is the GDP per capita of an economy, the slice of the pie, per individual
Here are the data
https://d3fy651gv2fhd3.cloudfront.net/charts/united-states-gdp-per-capita.png?s=usanygdppcapkd&v=201907021430V20190821
Your credibility is nil. I remember your saying on Morning Joe that if Trump were elected that the stock market would crash. This is exactly NOT what happened. Who believes a word you say?
1
Why is Rattner measuring only the final two and a half years of Obama? Be honest. Employment was pretty bleak during the Obama years.
3
Isn't it a bit early to compare two years of Trump to 8 years of Obama?
1
Reality check? Get with the times. Reality doesn't matter. Trump is an unstable idiot yet most Republicans bend over backwards to defend him, even though he isn't really a Republican at all. Your colleague Jamelle Bouie wrote an entire column about a Twitter spat between two members of Congress, as though tweeting is an important function of Congress these days, not passing legislation. What a world we live in, going down the tubes while people stare at their phones checking their social media feeds...
1
Bluster and blow, trump promised everything and delivered little.
Have sent a lot of raspberries your way, regarding the GM bailout and the expendables who got stiffed when you and Dear Leader rewrote the rules of bankruptcy...
But here’s an attaboy...
Usually, when I think of GM – three things come to mind:
1.Chevette test-drive a long time ago, when it was clear that GM wanted to punish people who sought affordable wheels from them. 45 minutes later, after test-driving a Corolla, swore off US cars for two decades
2.Nova a friend had bought when they were being co-produced on the NUMMI line. Friend’s alternator burned out – local GM dealer out of stock. Friend pinged the Toyota dealer nearby, who did have one in inventory – whereupon GM dealer said they were actually two different part numbers, because GM had extracted cost from their version
3.Buicks built on what looks to be a Daewoo assembly line – after GM bankrupted the brand
Truck divisions and models lumbered on steadily – till now...
Here’s the attaboy...
Looks like they’ve managed to clone the Cadillac design vibe – and infuse it into their new pickups and some other models...
Mid-engine Corvette – though never lusted for them, always liked them...
This is the stuff of which late-life mid-life crises are made...
Gonna have to at least rent one for a week or so...
If people at GM starting to look for their products in big-box parking lots, these days...
With pride...
They’d have good cause...
Making GM great again – might just (help) make America great again...
Why of course! Trump is a narcissistic, petulant man-child fraud. Terrible at business, terrible at TV, indescribably disastrous as president (but then again, he never did expect to win...Putin had other plans, however).
2
Trump's attacks on Obama are pure animal
jeslousy. Obama handed him a strong eoncomy
and is in process of screwimg tjhat up.
Obama inherited a mess and cleaned it all up,
no thanks to the Republicans who fought him
at every turn
2
Trump doesn't have to beat Obama on the economy. He has racism and bigotry going for him. While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, he secretly knows that they can be led around like bulls with nose rings - only instead of bull rings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants. If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is important and what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for dirty tricks and destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of us all. When we understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
2
When considering how well the economy is doing, don't ignore the exploding national debt under Trump, with next year's deficit expected to top $1 trillion.
To the degree that Trump has stimulated the economy, it is all on a credit card. Sooner or later, the credit card comes due and must be paid, either by ourselves or by our children.
4
"But what’s not disputable is even if we duck a recession, when it comes to the economy, Mr. Trump still has not eclipsed Mr. Obama’s record and is many miles from making America great again."
Yet another way Mr. Trump has been compared with Mr. Obama, and found lesser. However, it was never about America's _greatness_, but about America's _/whiteness/_, with Mr. Trump.
"Then there’s the overall economy. The sluggishness of growth since the 2008 recession has puzzled and dismayed policymakers."
But why, though? Some economists had said that there was a real need to stimulate _demand_ during the 2008 recession. That stimulation of demand was initially too small, and was cut off too early, and thus the rate of recovery from the 2008 recession was slower than it could be, leading to what is now almost a lost decade, and probably precipitated the election of Mr. Trump.
2
Obviously not. What he can do - and does each and every day - is lie about it.
And it looks like that might still work. Not quite as well as it used to, maybe, but still.
4
For some American voters, it's what actually happens which matters. But for Trump's base, and, therefore, for Trump himself and his administration, it's only what Trump says which matters. Reality is, the folks in Trump's base, the ones our president's life revolves around pandering to, appreciate being lied to as long as the lies make them feel better about themselves. So much for they myth of American exceptionalism.
3
(The White House seems to live in a parallel universe; it clings resolutely to its prediction of 3.2 percent growth this year.).
And therein lies much of the problem. The president tells his supporter to disregard what they see and believe only him.
Yes, much of the country is living in a parallel universe because of gaslighting and mendacity at the top.
It's hard to convince people of the facts that Mr. Rattner lays out here. It's likely going to take some severe pain for the president's supporters to see that what they see is actually what is true.
4
I am far from being a fan of Trump...but what exactly did Obama do for the economy after Republicans took over the House in 2011, and the entire Congress in 2013?...he didn't pass any economic bills whatsoever...explain to me what he did exactly during these years to help the economy other than just occupying the office...no one can seem to do this, yet they want to dump all this credit on him for being some economic guru leading our country to economic prosperity...I'm listening...
2
figured out an approach to China: 1) no trade war & TPP. 2) opened up Iranian market 3) maintained global market calm 4) didn't go along with any deregulation or upwardly targeted tax cuts.
sometimes NOT doing bad things is doing good things
1
@chris
You mean how Obama carried on our decades long policy of hollowing out US industrial strength while outsourcing American jobs to China (and India and other developing countries)? Allowed China to steal at will our intellectual property? Turned a blind eye to human rights violations and other repressive policies by the fascist communist state of the Peoples' Republic of China?
Yes, those are policies Obama - and of his three previous predecessors as president - can all be proud of.
I would add some aspects of Trump's economy which will cost in the future, so whatever 'gain' they appear to 'create' is at best temporary, but actually create negative growth.
1 tax cuts have already been projected to increase the deficit.
2 removing environmental controls creates bigger problems in the future as damage multiplies geometrically.
3 making health care more difficult to obtain means more people get sicker who eventually need to be treated.
Unless we all live 'in the present' and believe that 'somehow' things will get better, many of Trump's policies border on criminal negligence.
At the G7 meeting he dismissed environmental concerns with a reference to windmills as some sort of silly, 'fringe' idea.
Then he tweeted some nonsense expressing solidarity with Bolisario, the Brazilian leader whose policies have been partly responsible for the mega fires in the rain forest.
Perhaps he envisions a sort of future hi tech dark ages in which those with the means build highly fortified private cities, hire their own armies, and 'wait it out' while everybody else kills each other.
But it won't be the 1% ... More like 1/500th of the 1%
Good comparison. I am one of those people who believe that the economy could have performed better during the Obama years if the Congress had not created a fiscal headwind. Fed Chairman Bernanke said so in his testimony. I understand the role that you played in reviving the auto industry, Can you imagine what it would have been like without the bailout.
I think that we could have been more aggressive with infrastructure program and Obama missed a great opportunity by failing to do more to keep people in their homes.
It was tough recession and there was simply not enough credit to keep this economy going. Bernanke did a great job, the Fed really saved the U.S. and I think created probably the strong recovery that was given to Mr. Trumps as a gift.
The President scapegoated trade and "illegal immigration". His tariffs and erratic behaviors does not inspire confidence in anyone. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act was a bust in that it did not create the investment as advertised.
I agree with your observations of Trump behaviors. Clearly, he has a personal problem. It is conspicuously evident that he has not grown in knowledge, integrity, and sense of honor and duty to meet the awesome challenges of the office under the design of the U.S. Constitution.
His failure to mobilize the resources of this economy and government to deal long-term with a deterioration of the climate was a great opportunity missed.
His party has failed to advise him that he is acting irrationally.
10
Sorry, but it is simply absurd, to use a Danish euphemism, to correlate any particular President with economic growth. My guess is that who is President is no more than 5% of the reasons that businesspeople invest and consumers spend, or not. Keynes said, paraphrasing, that the key to economic health is business investment and that depends on the animal instincts of businesspeople.
So how much does the President affect those animal instincts? A lot or a little? How about the entire Federal government? A lot or a little? I say - a little - unless some absurd instability has given those animal instincts a very cautious feel - and Trump's crazy trade wars, and general unpredictability - might indeed be increasing angst that depresses businesspeople's animal instincts....i.e. it is much more possible for a President to have a negative effect, as Trump likely is, than positive.
This is all similar to myths about businesspeople investing according to what are the corporate tax rates. Smart businesspeople will invest if profitability looks good. How much are taxes a determinant of profitability? Not that much compared to the many other important factors such as labor and materials costs, prospects for market expansion domestic and international, regulatory predictability, etc.
I.e. Trump and GOP are doing their typical Voodoo economics thinkers taking credit for economic expansion under their watch. They actually have next to nothing to do with it.
1
My issue with Trump and his administration is they truly only care for the short term. They are looking for ‘wins’ and that alone guides policy making. They do not care for 10,20 years from now. Take for instance the increasing deficit, why are they not focusing on deficit reduction during a period of good times? The republicans tried to force austerity on Obama even when government stimulus was needed following the 2008 GFC. And even after his 8 years, Obama still left the deficit lower than what he inherited it. Trumps politicizing the Fed is also dangerous, particularly if it sets a precedent of firing Fed bosses simply because they don’t bend to the will of low interest rates. Trump was a multiple rate cut heading into 2020. There in lies why the Fed should remain independent, so monetary policy is not guided by politics. If Trump where an Australian Prime Minster, he would have been removed from office by now. Trust me, Australian PM’s have been removed from power by their own party for a lot less. Yet he gets away with it. He even wants to use his own golf course as a venue for the next G7 – I cannot fathom how that can be allowed.
4
@Adam From recollection, Australia has had several Prime Ministers since 2010. All with its economy being relatively stable, as a result of the mercantile ascendancy of China. (Australia being one of its major raw material depots.) Some of the Chinese ascendancy has been due to predatory trading, now a focal point of international economic conflict. It is difficult to receive criticism from this quarter. A nation which owes, to a great degree, its security provided by America. While at the same time benefiting from Chinese predatory practices, which have been extremely debilitating to employment and economic growth in the US. Some prudence would probably be in order. Otherwise, it is very likely Australia could possibly have to chart a different security and economic course.
" The sluggishness of growth since the 2008 recession has puzzled and dismayed policymakers. "
Really? They need to read Marx.
2
Like any data, it can be manipulated to serve your purpose. Careful people can distinguish real conclusions from cherry picked data—the author tries a bit of both: let’s choose the last 2.5 years of an eight year presidency and compare it to the first 2.5 yrs of an unknown term, or let’s use mean values in place of median value or trending lines that have more meaning (look closely at the graphs), or let’s use only the data that makes my point......
Not saying I like this administration, but people should know how their information is being delivered in any case.
Did he consider changes in monetary policy: a) increases in interest rates and b) quantitative tightening? The economic variables discussed rely directly or are strongly correlated with these changes in monetary policy. Maybe that could have been the 6th chart.
"Now the economy is demonstrably slowing down, thanks in large part to Mr. Trump’s trade war."
Perhaps, perhaps not.
The stock market paniced and crashed $5.5 trillion as the Democrats took control of the House in the fourth quarter of 2018 with their 90% "marginal" tax rate ideas.
After they couldn't get a 47% rate out of committee, it recovered all $5.5 trillion but we are now digesting the consequences of having lost that $5.5 trillion along with the quarter of weak capital investment.
Now, the stock market is back up to $32 trillion forecasting 4% growth for next year.
If gdp had grown 1.8% instead of 1.6% in 2016, Hillary would be president. I think 4% will be enough to get Trump elected.
So, no, trade is not the explanatory variable.
Trump is not a competent president. This is no surprise to anyone who has watched his business career. We would hear about grand openings and then, months later or a few years later we'd hear about serious problems, all of them monetary in nature. Trump didn't want to pay the vendors. He was suing them for breach of contract. The establishment was bankrupt. The end results were usually the same: the business that had his name and backing went bankrupt, people lost jobs, and he was the wronged party.
I've been lucky enough to work with some very competent and intelligent people in my life. None of them behaved the way Trump has behaved as president or as a businessman. They didn't brag about how wonderful or indispensable they were. They didn't threaten us. They weren't threatened by our criticisms or ideas. They didn't have daily temper tantrums. They offered to help us if another pair of hands was or eyes were needed to get the job done. And they had a pretty good idea of what the work entailed.
All I see with this administration and Congress, particularly the Senate, is a big fat zero on positive accomplishments. Hardly something to brag about. What I remember about the Obama administration with great fondness are these things; no weekly scandals, no daily presidential tantrums, a man who, with support from his family, worked quite hard at one of the most difficult jobs on the planet. I miss that man and his family.
8/27/2019 9:34pm
26
Fantastic. This is exactly the type of analysis that matters. Democrats have to learn how to talk about the economy. Once they break the Trump as economic savior myth with information like this, we can get back to arguing about the best way to cover our people with healthcare, get our kids through college without student loans, balance social security, and get the budget under control, all with tax hikes on the top 1% to pay for it!
7
Obama inherited W’s giant mess and largely fixed it, although to a much smaller extent than was possible due to open Republican obstruction (disingenuous deficit fixation, refusal to support infrastructure renewal, watering down of Wall Street regulation etc.)
Trump inherited Obama’s eight straight years of growth, took credit for it, abandoned all of the measures that helped the recovery and now is ruining it with a disastrous and crazy trade war straight out of the 1930’s.
One fears to think what might happen in the next economic crisis. Trump and his group are neither credible nor competent, and the Fed has far fewer tools available this time around.
An eventual recession is inevitable. At least if it’s sooner rather than later, it might help us get this catastrophe of a President out of office.
15
Nice article Mr. Rattner. I've been posting comments showing why the idea of there being a Trump economic 'boom' is pure myth, so Ill take this opportunity to show some more numbers:
Stocks: Growth is slowing dramatically. From the bottom in March 2009 until Trump was elected, the S&P grew 1.8% on average per month. Since then, growth has been 1.2%. And from January 2018 until now, monthly growth has averaged a paltry 0.4%.
GDP: It's also slowing, despite the tax cuts. After growing 2.5% in 2018, economic growth is just 2.1% (annualized) thru June.
Corporate Profits: People are talking about an 'earnings recession' because in the first 2 quarters this year, profits have contracted by 1.4% and 1.3%, according to Morgan Stanley.
Interest Rates: 3 month T Bills have been higher than the 10yr for over 2 quarters and expanded to the widest margin just today, at 54 basis points. Incredibly, the 3 month is also inverted over the 30 year bond. Meanwhile, the 2-10 spread inverted to 5 bp's today. Recession or not, the bond market has been screaming about slower growth ahead.
6
For a long time economist have been telling us that large economies, such as that of the US, have extremely large inertia. In everyday vernacular that means, once the economy start moving in a given direction (up or down), governmental actions are unable to change its momentum immediately. So the question becomes: how long does it take for a series of government actions influence direction of the US economy?
A good place to start looking are the US recessions that have occurred in the last 90 years. One needs to examine the economic data showing the onset of these recessions and beginning of their corresponding recoveries due to government actions. Depending which criteria are used to measure recessions onset and recovery times, one can gather that US recessions typically last between one to two years.
Based on the above, one has to conclude that the growth in US economy during the 2017 period is largely attributable to actions taken by the Obama administration, while the behavior of economy during 2019 must be heavily driven by Trump administration decisions. For 2018, credit goes to both administrations for the way the US economy has been acting.
Obviously such analyses run contrary to Mr. Trump's repeated claims that the growth in the US economy during 2017 and 2018 are entirely due to his administration's actions. Nor do they endorse the view that the slow down during 2019 can be blamed on relatively recent interest rate changes by the Fed.
8
Haven't you heard? Facts don't matter. We're living in 1984. The "President" lies about the economy (and pretty much everything else), and Fox and the rest of the right wing propaganda machine amplify his claims. His followers know better than to listen to the Fake News lame-stream media (enemy of the people!), because they are Very Unfair!!! They never report on all of Trump's amazing accomplishments...
We're gonna whine so much, you're gonna get tired of whining.
17
Facts, fact, facts, who needs them? America is Great because Trump is Great. Without Trump, there is no America.
4
Well, let's see, one is Harvard graduate and a professor while the other just a pathetic ignorant coward who, to this day, cannot even spell the most basic words (remember the Prince of Whales?) or his consort's name (remember Melany?).
Poor fellow, pathetic 2nd rater.
16
These are completely unfair comparisons, Obama took over a shattered economy where the only goal at the time was avoiding another Great Depression, Trump took over an economy which was operating close to capacity. Really the trajectory which was started under Obama has continued and matured, we are now closing in on a time when a contraction would be natural. While there were some specific policy things which were done post crisis to steer the economy away from the abyss that trajectory was simply the rebound of an economy which had hit rock bottom. It had to go up it couldn't go much further down without collapsing.
This shows not that Obama did a much better job of managing the economy, it shows how resilient the economy is in the face of policies. Trump has done a great deal which could have derailed the economy, but has had little effect. The lesson here is that it is possible for business cycles to operate with little impact from government policies.
5
The comparison are from five years after the recession, not from the start. Not much different if you start with the final year of the Obama presidency. A steady modestly growing economy continues. With all the boomer retirement and slow workforce growth this may be as good as it gets
4
Indeed. Presidents have some impact but not as much as we (or especially they, when times are good) think. More than any President, I think Bernanke and Paulson deserve credit for avoiding a deeper downturn. But after they staved off complete panic, a ham sandwich could have presided over the rebound that followed
1
The only good thing about Trump is that people can now appreciate how good Obama actually was! Obama was given a very bad hand (world recession, bailout etc..) and yet still outperforms this current president.
And this current president may have actually have done ok had if it wasn’t for his monumental ego and translucent thin skin. He creates problems for himself and the America economy and has an “arm chair quarterback” knowledge of the world which is ridiculously dangerous.
Finally, I have barely heard a word out of Obama that sought to show how good he had done. Trump constantly tweets and rants about how well he’s doing and how he is the best. Doesn’t he sound like the worst used car salesman you have ever met?
True genius doesn’t have to brag. True leadership doesn’t have to bully. True power doesn’t have to fight for credibility. Obama did none of those things. Trump can’t stop himself. What a poor choice of leader...
223
@Al
"Obama was given a very bad hand..."
Nope.
Study rational expectations to understand economics.
Investors on the economic train make decisions looking far down the track. When they see the train going over the cliff, they get off immediately.
Wall Street traders make billions more accurately predicting the economic future nanoseconds quicker.
In 2008, Wall Street traders predicted that Obama would:
1) become president;
2) enact a huge tax increase by forcing the Bush2 tax cuts to expire;
3) socialize medicine, increasing its cost by $1 trillion;
4) increase federal regulation to over 190,000 pages.
Easy predictions, Obama promised to do these things starting in 2007 when he declared for president.
When Obama’s probability of becoming president went to 50% (Iowa Political Markets), the stock market crashed $2.5 trillion. As it went to 100%, traders crashed the market by $8.2 trillion.
Those predictions? All correct.
Obama's policies resulted in only 13% growth. The lowest growth of any two term president in U.S. history.
There will always be shocks like the housing market - a $6.2 trillion shock. In 1987, Black Monday hit Reagan with a 22% hit to the stock market, the modern day equivalent of a $7 trillion shock.
Impact on Reagan's economy? GDP growth in 1987? 4.2% GDP growth in 1988? 3.6% Reagan's economy took the shock in stride.
Obama's economy? GDP growth in 2009? -2% First president not to have a 3% growth year since Hoover.
4
@John Huppenthal - This is a textbook example of "post hoc, ergo procter hoc."
One must believe in magic to think that any other president taking office in 2009 could have turned the economy completely around in a year.
10
@John Huppenthal Nice spin. So when the Trump economy flops again like Bush 2's did, you're going to blame Obama still?
I agree that Obama was handed a poisoned chalice, in so much as single people are responsible for the working of an economy or a country.
8
You have not taken into account the hostility facing Trump. When Obama was in office, Republicans went along with any reasonable request. That the fact that he only made unreasonable requests was not their fault.
@chairmanj
Well, that's one way to describe GOP obstructionism - we'd do what he wants if it was 'reasonable.'
19
Donald Trump’s base will never concede that a black man was smarter, better organized, had a plan and brought it to fruition than their “dear leader.”
After the economy does a half gainer into the sewer, they’ll swear it was “all Obama’s fault.” Conservative ideology is not a flexible dogma; it’s rigid and doesn’t bend; It snaps.
20
I think what this column points out is that presidents have very little impact over how the economy trends. In the case of Obama, he was president while government was divided and consequently couldn’t enact any fiscal policy to impact the economy.
In the case of Trump, it just shows how resilient the economy is when faced with so much uncertainty. That being said, it appears the chickens are coming home to roost. While it’s very difficult for presidents to directly impact the economy positively, they are certainly capable of screwing it up which it seems where we are headed.
2
We are explaining to this who? Trump base! Why?
They believe statistics, science or common sense etc.
Rattner column is an excellent comparison for except that 43% of the Americans.
1
I'd be concerned Trump would see this and get angry, but he doesn't read.
8
How quickly we forget that it has been the Repub policies of growing deficits during every R Pres. since Reagan took over. Obama was left a complete mess by GW Bush (who was left an economic boom by Clinton - a projected $5T surplus. Bish then slashed taxes for the rich and left Obama a $5T deficit and the economy on the precipice of collapse. Obama and the Dems had to cudgel the Rs to pump up the economy after they destroyed it.
Trump takes over the growing economy from Obama, cuts taxes again for the rich, growing the deficit to $1T per year, and then hammers the economy with his lunatic tariffs and lies to the world that the U.S. economy is doing fabulously well (he forgets to tell us that it's true - for the top .01%. This guys is out of his mind and those in positions of leadership are silent, complicit, cowards - especially those who call themselves "business leaders". Ypur silences is deafening, your spinelessness is a sight to behold.
I love the Business Roundtable's latest declaration signed by nearly 200 CEOs of the largest corporations in America. And they don't say a word about the truth about trump - they fear his thumbs. They are silent about the truth about the extreme severity of the climate emergency. Hug your children tonight.
13
A kangaroo would do better than Trump on the economy. If he is so great at economics, how come he went belly up 6 times? How can you not figure how to run a casino?
12
Yes, but like Trump, Obama came down hard on working people: freezing federal employee pay during the worst years of the recession, kicking homeowners to the curb with his ridiculous designed-to-fail HAMP; signing Republican legislation that included cuts to food stamps, and that minimum wage increase proposal to a whopping $10.10 in 2015.
Their rhetoric, quite different. Their actions, not so dissimilar.
2
This means:
when trump is hard at work, the economy suffers.
Let's fire him on Nov 3rd, 2020!
3
Trump has the courage to take on China for the betterment of America and the free world and you're saying Obama - who China had trained like a dog in the circus - did better? Is there a name for this little fantasy world liberals live in?
1
For purposes of politics, it's not enough for Trump to avoid a recession; it's not enough for the economy to be doing well.
For voters to put up with Trump, the economy has to be superlative.
If the economy is great, then people will think, "It's probably not Trump, but why chance it". If the economy is good, then they'll chance it to get rid of him.
Trump knows that, and that's why Trump is working the Fed to have an inflationary rate drop; that's why Trump is working the fiscal stimulus; that's why Trump will cave on trade; that's why Trump lies about the state of the economy.
Nobody is going to reward Trump with a second term if the economy is as good as the previous presidents that he trashes as losers.
31
@Yeah but see @Melissa M. another NYTImes pick (like yours! Congrats!) Based on her comments, Trump stalwarts actually believe things are much, much better, no matter what the facts and figures are.
4
@Yeah
Maybe, maybe not. Your sacrificial lamb hasn't been selected for the meat grinder yet.
Trump and his WH are serial liars and /or given to extreme exaggeration. So if they say Trump is doing better than any other president living or dead, it is a lie and an exaggeration. Trump's hatred toward Obama has been around for a long time and it is clearly an irrational obsession. His attempts to punish Obama by rolling back regulations and claiming superiority are childish at best and fool very few. Our economy is only an issue for Trump like his inauguration size---a non issue. On the other hand, if he keeps up this China trade war, he may send our economic indicators plummeting. Of course, he will blame any such catastrophe on Powell and Obama. Respect has to be earned. He cannot bully respect from people but he can create an environment of fear and mistrust, and he has.
58
Why is anyone surprised that Trump made pie-in-the-sky promises and they didn't materialize? Why is anyone surprised that he pretends that the economy (or anything else for that matter) is going great guns and in fact it's just guns?
Those people who voted for him -- an amalgam of evangelists, the very wealthy and non-college educated whites -- were either bigoted, mean, gullible or greedy when they voted for him in 2016. If they vote for him again, they are all of those.
78
@Marcy
"...were bigoted, mean, gullible or greedy..."
What a bigoted conclusion on your part.
Is it greedy to want jobs for the
1. 13 million discouraged workers sitting at home degenerating into drug addicts;
2. 75 million dissatisfied and unproductive workers who want a better job and a better life;
3. 4.5 million released jail and prison inmates on parole and probation;
4. 10 million college students who are drifting without any evidence of cognitive gains;
5. 5 million part-time workers who want full-time jobs;
6. the 200 million illegal aliens organizing their trip to the U.S.?
I mean let's be honest - he can't really beat Obama at anything.
107
@R President Obama outclasses him in every way possible! I miss him!
25
@R. Can anyone explain exactly what Obama did policy wise to steer us out of recession? Business incentives to hire? Regulations rescinded? Or maybe it was eight years of zero percent interest rates thanks to the Fed. He gets credit for staying out of the way at least.
3
@Tom: In case you forgot: he provided tax credits to incentivize purchase of houses and cars, rescuing those industries in the US. Many companies owe their survival to his policies, which worked out slightly better than his administration predicted. Thank you, Mr. Obama.
It is difficult to imagine Mr. Trump undertaking any policies with the purpose of helping his fellow Americans; his only motivations seem to be vindictiveness and self promotion. We are now starting to taste the bitter fruit of his harvest.
24
Historians and economists will agree (assuming they're not GOP shills) that Obama's economy was better, sustainable, and more durable than Trump's by far, but there will be many more lies lionizing Trump's economy that I can't guess which one the gullible American people will believe is better.
17
On the side note, aside from Obama, Trump has dismantled the Nixon and Reagan legacy quite a lot too.
Right.
1
Obama had nowhere to go but up. And did so more slowly than any other post-WWII recovery. Trump has been able to sustain the run -- but his trade objectives are undermining those efforts.
2
@CHM
Had the GOP not adopted austerity as the only response and instituted obstructions at every measure Obama advocated, the growth would have been faster.
92
@CHM
Right - Obama, not Trump, is the one who inherited "a mess," though he just got to work and did not need to make that claim. Trump made it, but of course, it was untrue for him.
5
@John As the Dems controlled House and Senate for the first two years of Obama's presidency, this makes no sense.
When will economists meet with the demographers and figure out we are older and America's fertility is 1.8 well below 2.1 which will keep the population stable if there is no immigration or emigration?
Consumption matters. The lowest social mobility in the industrialized west matters. Inequality matters.
I am amazed there is any growth at all. It is inconceivable to me that everybody doesn't realize it is only trade that stops GDP from moving steadily downward.
12
The economy is actually the only area where Trump follows the Republican orthodox playbook letter for letter:
1) pass massive tax cut for the rich
2) explode the deficit
3) continue to spend, and act like deficits don't matter
4) lose next presidential election, so that the Democrat has an economic disaster to deal with
5) Republicans then claim massive cuts need to be made to social programs due to the deficit (which magically matters again)...
It's going to happen again in 2020.
75
Presenting an argument based on facts and figures? How refreshing in the current climate. If only the people that need to hear this were listening.
38
Gee, all this spectacular under-performance at the cost of only $1 trillion deficits for as far as the eye can see.
24
He can't beat President Obama on anything.
239
@dlb Golf (but not basketball).
2
Sad
1
@william madden
not even golf.
trump is not good at golf. he just cheats. according to his golf scores Trump is even better than Jack Nicklaus.
20
Don't forget Obama inherited an economy in collapse from his (Republican) predecessor, while Trump inherited an economy on the upswing already. "Born on third, thinks he got a triple."
141
@Brian Mintz
Born on third, can't find home plate.
@Brian Mintz - Standing at home plate, called out on strikes, thinks he hit a home run.
Mr. Rattner facts really do not matter in the current political climate we live in. In so much as people feel a certain way, that appears to be all they need to "know". Obama was of a different league altogether that Trump will never touch no matter how much wrecking ball work he does to existing and destroyed policies. While one commenter said you cannot compare these two, I disagree; the fact that Obama inherited an economy on the edge of collapse and sustained it compared to Trump's inheriting a rising economy and is now destroying it...obviously proves my point of the two being in two different leagues.
79
I was struck by the "parallel universe" comment in Mr. Rattner's article, for it succinctly describes what America is facing these days. There are the pronouncements from the White House, and there are pronouncements by everyone else, and the two rarely intersect. By this point, the only people who believe the White House are people who buy his entire argument, that everyone- the media, other politicians, in fact anyone who dares to disagree with this person- is lying and out to get him. Then there is everyone else. One of these groups is low-information, demonstrably gullible, doesn't read, and are easily led. Which parallel universe do you live in?
33
Let's not forget the complete obstructionist policies on the economy the republicans adhered to during Obama's presidency. In spite of their best efforts to sabotage Obama and the US economy, Obama rescued us andhas clearly out performed Trump. The republicans have given Trump everything he has asked for and even the Fed has bowed to his pressure. Yet, Trump, the narcissist, still can't beat Obama on the economy or anything else. No wonder he hates Obama so much. Biden should deliver this message everyday and has the Obama/Biden record to hold up against this inept conman's claims of greatness.
135
@EPMD
Actually Obama had very little effect on the economy. He actually screwed things up a bit by choosing a rather weak Treasury Secretary, Larry "I don't believe in infrastructure" Summers.
The result was that the US missed out on the massive, short, stimulus in 2009 that was suggested in the very circumstances we found ourselves in that year by a truly great economist, John Maynard Keynes.
As Keynes pointed out, if you leave everything alone the economy gradually revives of its own accord in a few years. But why wait when you can quickly stimulate the economy out of a depression?
Neither Obama, or Biden should take credit for the gradual improvement of the US economy over the last decade. As for Trump, don't get me started.
1
@Michael Hutchinson
Heard this argument before and it is lame. Obama inherited an economy losing 800,000 jobs /month and left us with an economy creating 220,000 jobs /month. Carter, Reagan, the Bushes and Clinton did not have to face the worst economic downturn since the 1930s like Obama. People like you pretend that the overnight demise of giants like Lehman was just part of a regular business cycle--really? The results speak for themselves and you can call it luck, but don't call the typical business cycle correcting itself independent of who is in the WH. Let Trump get four more years of this idiocy and will see if it just magically corrects itself as people like you claim. We should all pray this never happens.
1
@Michael Hutchinson: The major impediment Obama faced was the GOP:
“There are enough of us to block the Democratic agenda as long as we walk in lockstep. As long as Republicans refuse to follow [Obama’s] lead, Americans will see partisan food fights and conclude Obama failed to produce change.”
- Mitch McConnell
1
Of course Mr. Rattner is coming at this from a completely unbiased, non-political perspective.
6
@DC If you believe there are facts that contradict Mr. Rattner's arguments then, by all means, present them in this forum. Most here are not afraid to listen to both sides of a debate.
60
@DC Facts have a well known liberal bias.
Just because Trump lies about the economy doesn't mean everyone does.
20
@DC Can't wait for your "alternative facts". Meanwhile, the gas lights are burning in the White House.
5
Steve,
You have been drinking too much of Joe and Mika's tea.
We cant get materials because of back suppliers are too busy.
Cant find enough help.
Everybody is busier now than ever before.
Steve,,Really?
2
@Joe Paper
I'll take quantitative data, like Rattner's, over anecdotal data, like yours, almost every time.
53
@Joe Paper:
What "back suppliers" are our farmers waiting for? Monsanto? Why have they taken $28 BILLION in trump's welfare socialism freebies, yet they will still dump trump?
Some people wish to continue their delusions, because seeing the truth requires them to see that they were fooled.
'Tis a better man who can see his mistake and correct his course, than one who continues full-speed into a mega-tsunami but tells his followers that "sunshine" lies ahead.
28
@Chrisinauburn
Same here! I do not see any good paying jobs coming back to America ?
High wages, full benefits, pension ?..
People should not compare Obama statistics with Trump statistics in this manner. They're apples and oranges. Obama came into office when the economy was at rock bottom. He got behind TARP but after a year or two, wne TARP's stimulus effect was exhausted, he was blocked from passing further stimulus bills. Recovery, at first, happened quickly, and then leveled off. That's how recessions go. Once things turn around employment increases fairly rapidly. And then, once recovery is in motion, growth rates level off.
As for Trump, his tax bill was his main effort at stimulating growth. It worked for a year or so but has petered out recently. Still, the economy continues to recover and has done better than many expected, if not as well as Trump promised.
Bottom line, Obama inherited a disastrous economy. Trump inherited a slowly growing economy. For different reasons, neither did much to stimulate growth. Basically, the economy has grown from the depths at a steady and predictable rate. The Fed has worked hard to balance growth, unemployment, and interest rates. Quantitative easement has succeeded. As for Obama and Trump, they have mostly been cheerleaders. If you think one or the other was a wiz at creating jobs, go to the back of the class.
6
@michjas
Obama was curtailed significantly in doing more. The stimulus was 1/2 what it should have been. Bold infrastructure projects were shelved (high speed rail, anyone).
Obama, if anything, was a steady hand throughout his presidency. The current occupant is anything but.
Trump has done nothing to boost the economy and in fact has done lots to sabotage it (tariffs, etc.).
Please don't them on the same level.
95
I would like to see a discussion of the benefits of the two tiered wage used to rescue the auto companies. Also, the ACA hit the middle classes with the highest out-of-pocket costs ever. Am I wrong or did Obama leave office with a higher disparity in wealth between white/black families and the middle class/1%? Seriously, Obama did not use the 2008 crash to improve the lot of the middle class. That is why Trump was elected and that is why this column tries to prove something that means zilch. If America was so pleased with Obama’s economy they would have elected his surrogate.
6
@Marie Seton
"Obama did not use the 2008 crash to improve the lot of the middle class. "
I agree with you 100%.
Granted, the ACA was better than what we had before. But it was watered down by the caving to the ravens of the right (i.e. no public option). People were (are) upset they were being forced to buy a product from companies we all loathe (insurance companies). But the ACA did a lot of good too and the uninsured rates dropped substantially. Now they're going up.
15
@Marie Seton the ACA was supposed to provide stipends for people who couldn't afford the insurance. The GOP Congress fought these efforts tooth and nail and got much of what they wanted because Obama wanted to pass the legislation. If the GOP had worked with Obama on the bill and ways to pay for middle class participation it would have been much better for all. Blame Mitch McConnell and the Republican Congress for a bill that gave millions coverage but did not provide financial assistance in near enough numbers.
7
If I remember correctly, the Democrats controlled the House and had a super majority in the Senate. The ACA did not need Republican support and did not get a single Republican vote. If the ACA had deficiencies, it was because Democrats’s opposition. The Republicans had nothing to do with the ACA.
Hmmn. I voted for Obama and Biden twice and then spent the next disappointing 8 years criticizing their pro corporate auto safety policies contributed to by Rattner. Those policies bailed out GM which was ok, but demanded nothing from GM for safety.
See https://www.fairwarning.org/2012/09/a-strange-indifference-to-highway-carnage/
And see https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/opinion/weak-oversight-deadly-cars.html?searchResultPosition=2
And see https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforJanuary2016-Corrected.pdf
3
@louis v. lombardo:
Your complaint: "Those [Obama] policies [and cash infusion] bailed out GM which was ok, but demanded nothing from GM for safety."
So when you're performing life-support on a dying patient, would you demand that they donate blood?
So why do you expect that Obama would have asked GM to give things back, to survive?
Perhaps you don't remember the state of our economy in 2008, where every week we were hearing of massive companies going bankrupt (many which no longer exist, only their "names" exist after their competitors bought the names).
Obama saved our (and some say the world's) economy - from utter calamity. And out of that massive life-support, our economy zoomed and soared for 8 strong years (even while republicans tried to tie his hands and stop him).
In comparison, trump had no resistance for his first 2 years -- and accomplished nothing except a huge tax rebate to obscenely wealthy billionaires and corporations.
And now the rooster is coming home to crow.....
and trump's crown will again be flaccid.
25
@IN
Interesting that you use an example of life support for GM.
My efforts were to get GM to improve rescue of American crash victims suffering death producing injuries at the average rate of about 100 vehicle deaths per day plus disability producing injuries at the rate of about 400 vehicle injuries per day - for all 8 years of Obama Biden.
Producing safer vehicles does require work and workers. See
https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforNovember2015.pdf
1
During the Obama administration, the economy for the middle classes was devastated. Obama's Fed initiated low interest rates, transferring trillions of tax dollars and lost interest on savings from the middle classes to Wall Street. This policy suppressed spending, labor participation, and wages for all but the wealthy, while simultaneously increasing income inequality. These data have been reported previously by the NYT. Obamacare also targeted working middle class Americans, increasing their premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, in order to avoid the issue of medical costs and placate the medical-industrial complex. So far, little has changed under Trump, and there is no reason to believe wealthy politicians of either party will return us to the protected era of pre-Reagan tax rates, which began the attack on the middle class.
4
@RC
I disagree with your comment one of the problems with the ACA was it couldn't pass congress unless it was changed and that let in the " capitalism of healthcare". According to our founding documents we are to have the rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness none that of can happen if you don't have healthcare that maximizes health existence for most of us.
How do you know that disabled people have something that can help all of us unless you remove the idea that disabled people are not able to help us.
I think that to feel that way removes an essential resource that can move our species forward. I feel the same about those children who have the misfortune to be born in any area not of the middle-class and lower.
That's a tremendous discredit to our society.
Just an old white man's opinion.
1
@RC "Obama's Fed," chaired by a 2005 George W. Bush appointee, was facing an economic catastrophe of unprecedented proportions. Had it not lowered interest rates in an economy with almost no demand, the middle class in this country would have been devastated.
13
trump lies and lies. that is all he knows. this is what con men do. they can not help themselves because it has worked for them over the years. they were born that way and grew up that way.
22
@john boeger
Are you saying that we are buying Snake Oil as a cure all for all problems?
If so I agree.
7
I'm so delighted that comments were added to this column (as of 3:30 EST, there's 2 comments).
I can't wait to see how Trumpists will tell us that:
Poor is Rich
Narcissism is Compassion
War is Peace
Up is Down
Ignorance is Bliss
Noise is Silence
Small is Big
Racism is Love
Anti-Semitism is Love
Misogyny is Love
An Oligarchic Plutocracy is the embodiment of Libertarianism (wait, that one's correct!)
(feel free to add your own)
22
@don salmon
I got a laugh because the comment is so real.
I am shuddering.
5
@don salmon
know nothing is the wisest philosophy
2
@ su
“Know nothing” = trump aka Jim Jones cult
“Know that you know nothing” (no-thing) = wisdom
Any way to sneak this column onto the White House’s website, Mr. Rattner? Of course our Chief Narcissist would reflexively claim that the federal Bureaus of Labor Statistics and Economic Analysis data, upon which it is based, are all contrived. The anti-Trump deep state is everywhere!
18
@John Grillo
I guess that's a response to the "Deep State" Mr Trump has talked about. I guess that includes the "Fake News" and anyone who has a different opinion than he does.
That I find terrifying way beyond scary.
But then I am only an old white man whose opinions have been formed by life experiences.
I may be wrong as I have been mistaken in the past but in my life I have seen much that told me that all "races" have valuable contributions to our society.
Again I am a very old white man whose opinions were formed by life experiences.
5
Just like 2008, the storm called Recession will start gathering strength in the summer of 2020, all because of the trade war. The President will continue blaming the FED, China, Nancy Pelosi, all the Democratic Candidates, particularly Elizabeth Warren and anyone else but himself. America then finally wakes up.
And realizes what a disaster this unfit imbecile is, we get a new Democratic President, the country sinks into another recession, it takes close to 8 years to recover and stabilize. By then America forgets how we got into the mess in the first place, then...
We repeat.
32
@cherrylog754
Yep, you have it exactly right Cherry, We have watched this rinse and repeat now for about seventy years. The Republics spend without restraint while they lie with their "tax and spend" and half the country buys it while they watch themselves struggle to live middle class.
It is tragic when you think about it. Quality of life markers on a downward glide path for all but the super rich and the few winners in this lotto economy.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that a well-informed electorate is a prerequisite to democracy. People can only make choices if they have access to accurate information concerning society, and the government . Adding insult to injury the press is not doing its job — not fulfilling its mission statement. Unless, of course, you qualify it with all matter of weasel-isms.
9
@cherrylog754
Is not that what happened in 2007 and 2008?
Oh my G-d! I see the same thing. But I fear many folk don't see this trend(?) As it's repeatedly coming up.
Are we that silly to stick our heads in the sand rather than observing what's happening.
4
The difference here is that Obama could see jobs leaving. Trump on the other hand sees...who really knows what Trump sees...
9
@JRB:
and trump sees Melania loving, adoring Kim Jong-Un.... she told him herself, and then he told the world.
What a doofus, this trumpy circus barker.
2
Trump's recent numbers are lackluster despite bigger deficits than Obama's (due to tax cuts). Economy would have grown more if the cuts had gone to lower/middle class people who would have spent the money.
18
It doesn't really matter whether Trump's economy is underperforming vs his projections, or vs Obama's. He'll just continue to lie about it as he has all along, and his "base" will accept his lies as Gospel truth, and all the bankruptcies in the world will not sway them.
36
If you look at the unemployment applications or economic growth, if the horizontal axis were not labeled, you could not tell where the presidency changed hands, just as Mr. Rattner says. Anyone who votes for a presidential candidate because he wants his income to rise is on a fool's errand. The effects are so limited on the couple of year time scale that it is hard to tell the causes for any changes. It would be better to elect a president who represents the historical values Americans have valued (even if they have not always lived up to them ). Then we can move in a direction where America plays a central role in addressing the critical issues before us, mitigating the effects of human driven climate change and avoiding the horror of nuclear war. My income next year falls pretty low on the priority list compared to these issue, and that's ok.
200
@HM The most honest, accurate comment I've read in the last two and a half years.
32
@HM
"...if the horizontal axis were not labeled, you could not tell where the presidency changed hands..."
Yes, but add the following chart and its obvious.
In 2013 Obama put a huge tax increase on successful small businesses by forcing an end to the Bush tax cuts.
Here are the growth in total federal revenues following that tax increase:
2013: 12%
2014: 8%
2015: 4%
2016: negative 1%
Obama left Trump with a death spiral
1
@HM
"Anyone who votes for a presidential candidate because he wants his income to rise is on a fool's errand. "
Unless, of course, they were a 1%er looking for a tax cut. Other than that, you're right!
2
How many times have Republicans crowed about the virtues of the Trump economy. Virtuous for large tax cuts for the rich at the expense of a significant contribution to the national debt.
What will they say now? I know, more lies, right?
16
The only time Trump isn’t lying is when he’s sleeping. But, give him time, he’ll conquer that.
Seriously.
45
@Phyliss Dalmatian
What about lying about how much sleep he gets? If he says he misses sleep to work, then at least part of his night's sleep becomes a lie.
3
@Phyliss Dalmatian:
Some nights when trump was sleeping, his twitter was silently tweeting... lying in his sleep!
4
It's sad that a piece like this needs to be written. Anyone who believes that Mr. Trump is competent in anything must be actively suppressing reality ... and what a president does or does not do may not matter that much in terms of economic performance, apart from a few exceptions (for instance, Obama's handling of the recession).
59
Trump is many miles from making America great again? No doubt. This reader finds it stunning to think how very far the once upon a time arguably indispensable nation has sunk since it was truly flirting with greatness under the steady hand of President Obama.
107
@Leigh
"...flirting with greatness under the steady hand of President Obama."
Oh, and I guess in your mind what we achieved in the 20th century under the likes of TR, FDR, Eisenhower and Reagan was mere mediocrity?!