[quote=svelte][quote=EconProf]In terms of accomplishing liberals’ goals, Trump should be applauded. On many fronts–not all–he is succeeding. A booming economy, record low unemployment, wages picking up steam, state tax revenues exceeding all predictions. These are priorities liberals say they want. Perhaps that’s why his popularity is climbing.
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Well, you’re giving him a bit more credit than he deserves. The economy was improving every day when he took office, which brings lower unemployment and higher wages with it. Unless you can show me a definite spike in those figures after he took office, tend not to credit him with those.
There have been a few things I’ve liked that he has done, but he seems to have always screwed them up in the end. A small tax cut would have been great, but the over-the-top cut he implemented increased the deficit. Funny how Republicans are anti-deficit until they control the government…
I also liked his states-rights stance when he was first elected, but he seems to have jettisoned that also. Witness his desire to take away California’s right for strict car emission standards.
Finally, the stock market has certainly improved under his watch, no doubt about it. Which I’m fine with, as long as he doesn’t undo so many financial safeguards that we go right back into another financial crisis.
I’m an undeclared, neither Dem nor Rep, so I can pick and choose the best from both sides. I’ve liked both Bushes, Clinton, and Obama. Though mostly in retrospect – I was much more critical of them while in office. But I’ll tell you this: Trump will easily go down as the worst president in my lifetime and probably all the way back to 1900. Worse than even Nixon and Carter. Just horrific.[/quote]
OK, here’s the spike: The growth rate during Obama’s 8 years averaged under 2%. This despite the historical tendency for deep recessions to be followed by strong recoveries. Under Trump the annual growth rate is approximately 3% per year, a difference that has a big long run impact over time.
BTW, I’m not saying Trump is a nice guy. His tweets are adolescent, his comments gross, his personal history shameful, and his tweets damaging even to his supporters. But ironically, by doing the opposite of what Obama did for 8 years, he is accomplishing some surprisingly good things.
