“This is the greatest economy in the history of our country,” Donald Trump told reporters last year. Two years into his presidency he has plenty to brag about but also some big problems. Many of his own making.
Unemployment is close to levels unseen since the first moon landing. It ticked up last month but even that rise came as more workers came off the sidelines and started looking for work. So far about 5m jobs have been created under Trump.
It is pretty dubious to claim presidents “create” jobs but they all take the credit when things are good; unsurprisingly Trump is no exception. The current recovery clearly began under the previous president, Barack Obama. Even with the unarguably impressive improvements under Trump, he has a way to go before he can fulfil his promise of being “the greatest jobs president that God ever created”.
Bill Clinton holds the record for largest numeric increase in the workforce, 23m jobs over his two terms. Obama, who was elected in the teeth of the worst recession in living memory, added 10m jobs over his two terms.
Trump is off to a great start, but it’s just that. The US has experienced 99 months of consecutive jobs growth and a slowdown seems inevitable.
Trump does, however, already have one over on Obama. Wage growth is finally picking up – a bit – after years of stagnation.
In other areas, Trump’s economic record is more discordant.
Trump’s single biggest policy achievement is the $1.5tn tax cut he pushed through in November 2017. Slammed by critics on the left and right as a giveaway for corporations and the 1%, it helped Democrats win in November’s midterm elections.
And then, of course, there’s Trump’s other most notable economic policy – trade wars. Trump has effectively torn up decades of trade agreements and antagonised his largest trading partners. The impact of the rancor he has sown is still being assessed but it has already triggered dramatic sell-offs on stock markets and may have contributed to a slowdown in the Chinese economy. Apple issued its first profits warning since 2002 earlier this month, blaming slowing business in China. There will be more warnings to come.
Trump’s economic populism helped get him elected. Whether he gets a second term will probably depend on whether he can keep the promises he made in the first, or whether the moves he made in the last two years come back to haunt him.
Call it Operation Patriarchy. Old white men are fighting a losing battle against changing demographics in the United States, but the 72-year-old president and 76-year-old Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, are doing their utmost to safeguard the supremacy of white men in American courts.
For two years, they have been packing the courts with predominantly white male conservative judges, whose lifetime appointments will mean the federal benches look a lot less like the country they preside over.
That may sound like business as usual for a party in power but it is actually the product of McConnell’s long-term strategy. He blocked dozens of Obama nominees for the federal courts by refusing to hold Senate votes, gambling that in 2016 a Republican might win the presidency and present a roster of more conservative judges.
This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at November 25, 2019 8:36 PM MST
Rather a bold attempt at censorship.
Discussions of current topics here are not subject to your authority, nor is anyone expressing their views about them reflective of a variance in their daily lives. Not many people weigh their choices on your approval.
This post was edited by Don Barzini at November 25, 2019 2:37 PM MST
Oh ffs, how am I censoring or attempting to censor anyone? You want to spend your days whining about Trump on a small Internet forum, go for it. It was an observation on my part and I see you didn’t actually have an answer. IMO it’s annoying as faak when some people make every topic about Trump and America, it’s getting boring. There’s a whole lot more going on in this world than what is the little bubble of America, that some ( I said SOME) Americans can not seem to see outside of. I don’t come on this site to get annoyed, angry or fight with people. When that starts happening, it’s not worth my time coming here. I had no intention of coming back here so soon, but I was sent an email letting me know that this question had gotten out of control. I guess some of your egos can’t take it that the rest of the world is sick of the world revolves trump and America attitude. I got sick of the political rants on here before and left for over a year and I have no problem leaving again. That’s not me CENSORING YOU, or anyone. It’s a personal choice and my right to do so. Again I’ll say get over yourself and if you can’t actually answer the question... STFU.
Benedict Arnold 
