transporter
Well-Known Member
In fact, the data show that compared to his predecessors, Trump’s record so far falls somewhere between unremarkable and substandard. Moreover, other economic data suggest that the current expansion will likely wind down before his term ends, and his boasting will ring hollow once the economy slips into recession.
It is commonly said that a President deserves some credit or blame for the economy’s performance only after he’s been in office about six months. On those terms, let’s measure Trump’s words against the record for real GDP growth over the last three quarters (July 2017 through March 2018). Over those quarters, GDP has grown at an annual rate of 2.6 percent. Comparing that pace to his last nine predecessors over comparable periods in their first terms, Trump here bests the four presidents who faced recessions in their first year in office (Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon). Trump’s other five predecessors came to office, as he did, during economic expansions. Among them, he’s tied for last place: Real GDP growth under Trump over the three quarters has lagged Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson and John Kennedy, and tied George H.W. Bush, as the data in the following table shows.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixg...s-behind-his-predecessors-on-economic-growth/
Hmm...have to include this piece for our economically challenged Gilligan:
Many economists (myself included) pointed out that Trump’s tax and regulatory changes would likely have little effect on investment. The truth is, U.S. companies had been able to borrow the funds to invest for virtually nothing for a decade, adjusting for inflation. So, there was little holding them back from investing here except a shortage of attractive opportunities, and Trump’s changes didn’t alter that reality in any meaningful way.