NYT - The Markets Are Up, Unemployment Is Down. How Much Credit Should Trump Get? [View all]

[TomCADem]

I think one question to ask is why are right wingers suddenly giddy about economic performance that is largely the same as what occurred under President Obama? I think there are two reasons:

First, on the right, you have large segment of our media that pushes right wing/Republican propaganda. Thus, despite the dramatic improvements in the economy under President Obama, the right wing media continuously focused on those "left behind." Thus, despite the overall and steady improvement in the economy, President Obama and Democrats received low marks in the economy.

Second, on the left, there is a natural desire to focus on those left behind. As a result, Democrats and liberals felt awkward about taking credit for the success of their policies in pulling the entire world from the brink of a depression, because it would seem insensitive to the plight of those who have not benefited. President Obama would often qualify the success of his policies by noting that not everyone has benefited.

Under Trump, you have an entirely different dynamic. On the right, the exact same economic data is now hailed as evidence of the success of Trump's policies even though no new legislation has been passed through Congress. Second, the concerns raised by the left are now dismissed by the Trump administration as fake news and biased.

Finally, unlike President Obama, Trump has no shame about boasting of his success even where he has failed. Likewise, as the Carrier employees found out, Trump is happy to take credit for jobs he did not save and ignore or attack those who say otherwise.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/04/business/economy/the-economy-under-president-trump.html

Since taking office, President Trump has taken to Twitter to point to the rising stock market, strong jobs numbers and the health of the overall economy as signs of his success.

While his claims are largely true, most if not all of the positive indicators continue trends that began during the Obama administration — metrics Mr. Trump dismissed as “fiction” and “disastrous” before becoming president. But as Sean Spicer, then his press secretary, said when the jobs numbers measuring the first full month of Mr. Trump’s tenure came out: “They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now.” Let’s take stock of the Trump economy.

* * *

At 4.3 percent in July, the unemployment rate is near its lowest level since early 2001, as Mr. Trump has claimed. What’s more, the rate is less than half its peak at 10 percent in October 2009 in the wake of the recession.

But nearly all of that drop occurred on the watch of his predecessor, Barack Obama. When Mr. Obama left office in January, unemployment was at 4.8 percent.