Trumps economy is doing (slightly) worse than Obamas

[DesertRat]

President Trump has made the economy so much better that it has added 186,000 fewer jobs in his first seven months than it did in President Barack Obama’s last seven months.

Indeed, the economy added only a disappointing 156,000 jobs in August and a disappointing 41,000 fewer jobs than we thought it had in June and July, and saw the share of 25- to 54 year-olds who should be in the prime of their working years who are in fact doing so fall a — here’s that word again — disappointing 0.3 percentage points, erasing almost all of its progress since the start of the year. Oh, and wages aren’t going up any faster; pay is growing the same 2.5 percent a year it was when Trump took office.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the economy isn’t doing any better under Trump, since Trump really hasn’t done anything to make it better. There hasn’t been a dollar of new infrastructure spending, let alone the trillion that Trump’s since-departed ideological consigliere Steve Bannon promised. And despite the administration’s tax cut bravado, it’s looking pretty iffy whether it will get that done either. (That’s because Trump wants, more than anything, to cut corporate taxes, but, due to legislative rules, even a temporary corporate tax cut has to be paid for — and Republicans don't agree on any way to do that.)

The economy, then, is still just chugging along as it has been for the last six years now. Nothing has changed. Even the relatively weak numbers in August are probably just a blip rather than the beginning of something bad. What those do tell us, though, is that there are still quite a few more people who want to work than you’d think there would be when the unemployment rate is only 4.4 percent. Which is to say that the recovery still has some room to run.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/09/01/trumps-economy-is-doing-slightly-worse-than-obamas
&w=1484

[Iliyah]

1. It's creeping downward . . .

[Vogon_Glory]

2. And So?

And so? The economy is still rolling along much like it had been while we still had a competent, popular President. If this worries Gen-X and Millennial readers, I'd like to point out that old farts like me remember that President George HW Bush fought Desert Storm early in 1991, but his victory on the battlefield still wasn't enough to prevent him from losing to Bill Clinton in 1992.

As horrible and painful as I find the experience of living under this administration, I'd like to remind voters worried about 2020 that it's still early yet.

[DesertRat]

3. The story was in response to his many claims that he's improved the economy. nt

[Vogon_Glory]

4. OK then, another one of Thump's many, many BS claims. n/t

I swear, the man at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is going to make Richard Nixon look as honest and forthright as George Washington.

[shanny]

5. It is still essentially the same

because tRump hasn't actually done anything (except blather). When he does, and his actions take effect, watch out....

[DesertRat]

6. True he hasn't done anything

But I don't get what you mean by "When he does, and his actions take effect, watch out..."

[shanny]

7. Dumps DACA? Sabotages the ACA? Deregulates Wall St?

Economy will tank or implode or both.

[DesertRat]

8. Yes. I hope not! nt