The economy under the Trump Administration has become a somewhat controversial subject. It seems as though many on the Right believe everything about the Trump economy has been a complete win, and that if COVID-19 didn’t mess things up that every aspect of the economy would have been setting records for best economy in American history; the people on the Left overwhelmingly believe that any positive aspects of the economy were started by Obama and simply continued by Trump. The hatred for him outweighs any successes the Trump administration has had.
When questioned regarding Leftist’s sources, they take it as an attack or say something along the lines of, “why should I look it up for you, conservatives are lazy!” Ironically, if it was the other way around and they were questioning your sources, and you replied in that manner, they would say, “it’s your argument, you should have your sources prepared, conservatives are so lazy!” You really can’t win sometimes. The funny thing is the utter laziness in them wanting you to be the one to source your argument and research to prove their argument for them.
Other times they have commented that whatever hard evidence I provide is “questionable nonsense” that should be discredited solely by their distaste for The President. They follow this statement with emotional arguments that are based in opinions that they believe trumps any actual proof. This way if they can’t prove you wrong with their opinions it is by default part of the nonsense.
However, I digress. There are many out there who are sheeple to the Legacy Media and have the wool pulled down over their eyes. The majority of them are willfully ignorant so they can maintain their belief in “Orange Man Bad.” These people purposefully avoid reading or watching news sources outside of the mainstream media so they do not distort the lies they believe to be truth. This refusal to even allow opposing sources leaves them only with the bubble of safety they reside in where all of their beliefs are maintained. It is understandably difficult for them to attempt at questioning the narrative they are so prideful of believing because to question one lie the media has spewed leads to the possibility that you have been deceived about more.
There are also people who aren’t aware there are reliable independent media sources to help keep people informed. Others are too busy with their daily lives to watch or read up on current events and related topics, and they tend to get most of their news through word of mouth. The largest massing of misinformation and disinformation is the Big Tech social media platforms. The most dangerous and radical, from my experience, are the people who religiously watch Mainstream Media outlets like CNN, NBC, MSNBC, and ABC, and cling onto every word as gospel.
In addition to the baseless accusations and attacks on the president’s integrity, there has been an ongoing widespread misinformation campaign undermining the economic growth under President Trump’s administration1. Instead the credit is given to the president with the worst post-WWII economy2– Former President Obama3. Before President Trump, in December of 2015, there was an apparent awareness of Obama’s falsely portrayed economy in an article titled, “Sorry, This Is Still The Worst Economic Recovery Ever4.”
Once the Orange Man Bad campaign began, the historic record breakingly weak economy of the Obama administration5 was suddenly transformed into the faux cause behind President Trump’s economic recovery and growth. The Fake News Media will try to pound the idea into your head of it being Obama’s economy until you believe it must be true.
Yet last year, even USA Today admitted that there is a revival of the middle class under the Trump administration6, while an article Investors said Trump was fulfilling Obama’s empty promises saying, “The latest expectation-shattering jobs report isn’t a fluke. It’s another sign that President Trump’s economic policies are improving the lives of middle class families7.”
In fact, according to the IBD/TIPP polls, quality of life in Trump’s America8 has been significantly higher than that of the quality of life in Obama’s America, until this year, when the manufactured impacts of the pandemic9, such as lockdowns and rioting, has affected everyone’s quality of life dramatically for the worse10.
The Trump Administration has done a number of things that have benefited working Americans including low unemployment, higher paying jobs, higher median household income, and creating more jobs.
Pre-pandemic America, through February 2020, saw total private and government payroll employment had risen every month for 113 straight months. Private employment had risen for 120 straight months. However, in the months since the pandemic started, there were 10.7 million fewer jobs on private and government payrolls in September than there were in February. On a positive note, private employment has seen an increase of 970,000 jobs in September.
Unemployment went down throughout the Trump Administration. It was in the 3.5% to 3.7% range from April 2019 through February 2020, reaching rates even lower than in the boom of the 90’s. The United States hadn’t seen unemployment rates that low since 1969- 50 years ago! After the pandemic began, the unemployment rate shot up to 14% in April, but as of September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics11 shows a rate of 7.9% with a gain of 970,000 jobs (which is on par with the average for the Obama Administration).
The average hourly earnings of employees on private payrolls grew modestly through much of the Trump Administration as well, and through February of this year, growth averaged 2.4% annually with modest inflation. This September, average hourly earnings of all employees on private payrolls were 4.7% higher than the year prior; earnings of non-management employees were up 4.6%. This is another reason why many people who don’t necessarily agree with President Trump are happy with his administration’s economy.
President Trump signed an executive order12 that expanded federally funded apprenticeship programs and on-the-job training, to provide an alternative for those looking to gain in demand skills that lack the resources to attend four year universities.
The executive order doubled the amount of money for apprenticeship grants, from $90 million to nearly $200 million a year, further enabling more low-income people to start a career in a trade. The executive order also set in motion a new process that makes it easier for businesses to create and scale apprenticeship programs, providing many more Americans access to an affordable education that leads to a well-paying job. The Workforce Development Advisory Council established by President Trump’s executive order has already created on-the-job training opportunities for 6.5 million Americans.
Under President Trump’s leadership13, Congress passed historic tax cuts and relief for hard-working Americans. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act14, the first major tax reform signed in 30 years. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provided tax relief for 82% of middle-class families, strengthening the middle class. This Bill doubled the Child Tax Credit that parents received, providing an additional $1,000 per child for working parents. It also nearly doubled the standard deduction which simplified the tax filing process for We The People.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut taxes for small business by 20%, providing $415 billion in tax relief for small business owners. This Bill alleviated the tax burden on over 500 companies. who used those savings to fund bonuses and wage increases for 4.8 million workers. It also sparked new investments into America’s economy by American businesses, with an invested $482 billion into new American projects since it was passed. It also repealed Obamacare’s burdensome individual mandate that forced everyone to pay taxes towards Obamacare even if they are using private insurance. Lastly, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made U.S. companies competitive on the world stage, in turn, lowering the corporate tax rate from one of the highest in the industrialized world (35%) to 21%.
Black unemployment was at an all-time low of 5.4% towards the end of last year15. Hispanic unemployment was also at an all-time low of 3.9% around the same time. Asian unemployment and women’s unemployment were also at all time lows.
President Trump signed an executive order prioritizing an applicant’s skills, instead of their college degrees, when hiring for federal government jobs.
625,000 new construction jobs have been created since President Trump took office. The manufacturing industry created nearly half a million new jobs. In February 2020 there were 5.8 million unemployed workers and 7.0 million job openings. Since the pandemic, this has gone up to where there are about 13.6 million workers for 6.7 million job openings.
According to the Manhattan Institute, over 8 years President Obama’s economy produced $6.4 trillion less GDP than was projected when he took office in January 2009. That initial projection already incorporated the recession that began in 2007.
Since President Trump took office in January 2017, CBO has raised its projection of the cumulative 2017-2024 GDP by $3.3 trillion.
The stock market reached an all-time high before the pandemic. According to Forbes16, “When Trump entered office he benefited from an economy that was in its eighth year of growth, a stock market that had been consolidating for about two years and was close to an all-time high.”
President Trump then took the now stagnant stock market and made it boom starting from the very beginning of his presidency.
Overall, the Trump Administration has excelled in the economy of our nation, with a large hiccup during the coronavirus outbreak, but has been coming back in a sharp V across the board. The middle class is expanding with the median household income higher, taking into account inflation.
All of that aside, arguably the most important factor about the economy is the satisfaction of We The People. CNN reported, as 2019 wound down, the economy is getting its best rating in almost 20 years17. Overall, 76% of those polled rate the economy very or somewhat good, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS18. That’s up nine points from 2018 and the highest percentage since February 2001. Considering CNN even had to admit that people were satisfied with the economy, and I can understand why. The Trump economy was good for We The People.
