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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Truth About the Trump "Booming Economy" -by JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
It is becoming conventional wisdom that US President Donald Trump will be tough to beat in November, because, whatever reservations about him voters may have, he has been good for the American economy. Nothing could be further from the truth...............
The only time I have seen anything like these declines in healthoutside of war or epidemicswas when I was chief economist of the World Bank and found out that mortality and morbidity data confirmed what our economic indicators suggested about the dismal state of the post-Soviet Russian economy.
Trump may be a good president for the top 1%and especially for the top 0.1%but he has not been good for everyone else. If fully implemented, the 2017 tax cut will result in tax increases for most households in the second, third, and fourth income quintiles.
Given tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the ultrarich and corporations, it should come as no surprise that there was no significant change in the median US households disposable incomebetween 2017 and 2018 (again, the most recent year with good data). The lions share of the increase in GDP is also going to those at the top. Real median weekly earnings are just 2.6% above their level when Trump took office. And these increases have not offset long periods of wage stagnation. For example, the median wage of a full-time male worker (and those with full-time jobs are the lucky ones) is still more than 3% below what it was 40 years ago. Nor has there been much progress on reducing racial disparities: in the third quarter of 2019, median weekly earnings for black men working full-time were less than three-quarters the level for white men.
Making matters worse, the growth that has occurred is not environmentally sustainable and even less so thanks to the Trump administrations gutting of regulations that have passed stringent cost-benefit analyses. The air will be less breathable, the water less drinkable, and the planet more subject to climate change. In fact, losses related to climate change have already reached new highs in the US, which has suffered more property damage than any other country reaching some 1.5% of GDP in 2017.
The tax cuts were supposed to spur a new wave of investment. Instead, they triggered an all-time record binge of share buybacks some $800 billion in 2018 by some of Americas most profitable companies, and led to record peacetime deficits (almost $1 trillion in fiscal 2019) in a country supposedly near full employment. And even with weak investment, the US had to borrow massively abroad: the most recent data show foreign borrowing at nearly $500 billion a year, with an increase of more than 10% in Americas net indebtedness position in one year alone.
MORE:
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/grim-truth-about-trump-economy-by-joseph-e-stiglitz-2020-01
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/1/18/1912481/-Saturday-night-owls-open-thread-Joe-Stiglitz-The-truth-about-the-booming-Trump-economy
madaboutharry
(40,238 posts)Please read the entire article at the link.
Thanks for posting.
gab13by13
(21,448 posts)he gave corporations and the rich 1.5 trillion dollars. The Fed kicked in another 2 trillion. When farmers lost markets because of Trump's tariffs he simply printed out billions of dollars and gave it to them. He gave farmers more money than Obama gave for the auto industry bailout.
To summarize; if Trump were to give me 2 million dollars and I was asked how I was doing, of course I would answer that I am doing just great thanks to Trump.
ProfessorGAC
(65,289 posts)Always include the auto bailout was paid back, with interest!
There's no unambiguous evidence the farm bailout even requires a partial payback at a later date.
There's some soft wording about "possibly", " maybe", but the maybe not is clearly extant.
Igel
(35,382 posts)It's not an added virtue; it was a mandated requirement.
ProfessorGAC
(65,289 posts)The fact is, it was paid back with interest, so ultimately did not cost the taxpayers.
The farm bailout is, and will continue to cost $, even if just due to interest payments on the added deficit.
So, it is an added virtue by comparison. And, comparing the 2 situations is what I did.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,228 posts)Farmers are in trouble BECAUSE of Trump's tariffs. Trump made the problem and the US taxpayers pick up the bill.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)"The tRump administration and the gop senators are a luxury we can not afford" Questionable if they are actually a "luxury", but we certainly can not aford them. The entire government needs overhauling. Audit the Pentagon budget, since taking billions for his wall does not seem to make a dent. If billions are available for the taking, why do we not have universal healthcare?
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I have been waiting for an article like this. Now I want to see the gist of it made into a commercial by the DNC.
theaocp
(4,245 posts)Tax cuts need to be fucking reversed and then some. Get them downballot scrubs in there, coach!
paleotn
(17,990 posts)From McTurtle down to your local city council.
paleotn
(17,990 posts)Couple that with US household debt at an all time high. Student loan debt at an all time high. What's going to happen if we have what starts out as a mild recession? Average households don't have the resources to weather the storm as many are one job loss away from serious reductions in their spending, if not bankruptcy. And student loan debt won't go away, even in bankruptcy court. What we have is a feedback loop driving massive defaults and a balance sheet depression not unlike 2008. But now the feds don't have the resources to go heavily into debt without impacting interest rates, further aggravating the problem, and QE has proven ineffective at quickly benefiting the main street economy, if it actually benefited it at all.
keithbvadu2
(36,980 posts)Trump is growing the economy with debt.
Where is the Tea Party?
Takket
(21,652 posts)they see low unemployment and a high DOW average and think that is what makes the economy great for the middle class.
Unemployment is low but how many people are bringing home a check that covers all their expenses and still leaves them some money to save and maybe enjoy a nice vacation once a year? How many have health care coverage that REALLY covers their healthcare needs and won't leave them drowning in the worst should happen? Practically no one.
The DOW is high so maybe your 401k (if you are the less than 50% of amercians who even HAS one) made you an extra $1000 this year instead of $900. Is that good enough????????????? For every extra dollar you make the top 0.1% are pocketing a MILLION.
I honestly feel like the economy is the one thing keeping drumpf afloat. If layoffs begin and unemployment starts to grow before the election his support will drop from 40% down into the 20s.
ooky
(8,930 posts)it has to happen sometime. This ain't goin' on "forever".
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,510 posts)Looks like a good place to link back to
Someday it will be crystal clear to all just what a terrible president Ronald Reagan was-
moondust
(20,017 posts)That was the rationale for Reagan's tax cuts and "trickle-down" economics. I always considered it a theory stolen from the post-Great Depression/post-WWII years when small businesses often had trouble staying alive and growing. A tax cut could help them expand and upgrade their facilities, spurring growth not just for them but also for builders and local communities. At least it made a little sense back then.
But that was all before Wall Street killed Main Street. Now in the era of Amazon/Bezos and Walmart/Waltons the whole idea of tax cuts to spur investment is ridiculous.
How's that record national debt workin' for ya, boys? Winning? The U.S. economy would probably be better off with a real baby orangutan taking credit for all the good and blaming all the bad on his predecessor.
D_Master81
(1,822 posts)These deficits are clearly unsustainable and will eventually screw the country but he doesnt care about the country, he cares about his record and legacy