The only thing related to the economy Trump did was the huge tax cut for corporations and mostly the most wealthy with a multi-trillon deficit cost. The promised increase in capital spending didn't happen, instead lots of buybacks of stock mostly benefiting the most wealthy.
Funny no one is talking about the $trillion deficit and huge total federal debt the Republicans were raving about under Obama who pulled us out of the "Great Recession". Also, Trump has spent more than twice the amount to bail out farmers than the auto bailout that saved the industry that R's were so upset about.
In the four years prior to the passage of the GOP tax law, the economy added an average of 213,000 jobs each month, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the nearly two years since the law passed, average job creation has actually declined by an average of 11,000 per month.
The unemployment is at a low but lots of those workers are having to work two jobs to support families as wage growth has been almost stagnant for middle income until a small rise recently. Top execs have had huge pay increases.
The White House promised that the tax cuts would result in an annual wage increase of $4,000 per household. Again, not even close. In the two years since the law passed, wage growth, after accounting for inflation, rose only slightly, from 1% to just under 1.4% per year for nonsupervisory workers, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. That difference — even if it were fully attributable to the tax cuts — amounts to less than $400 for a full-time worker. So much for your $4,000 raise.
We have been told, over and over again, that tax cuts for the rich are good for the overall economy. However, there's not much solace to be found in the gross domestic product either. In the four years before the law passed, real GDP grew by an annual average rate of about 2.4%, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the nearly two years since, the GDP growth rate has inched only slightly higher to an annual average of 2.5%.
These lackluster results should not, in the end, be very surprising. The claim that a huge tax cut for the wealthy and corporations would trickle down to everyone else was based on an outdated and discredited set of ideas for how the economy works. In that old framework, the way to produce a better economy is to get out of the way of job creators and let the free market do the rest. A tax cut for corporations, then, should have reduced the cost of capital and induced them to invest more, which ultimately is supposed to create jobs and push up wages.
But even that very first step never happened. In the last two years, the growth rate of private direct investment has substantially declined. In the four years before the law passed, private direct investment grew by about 3.3% annually, according to data compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In the two years since the law was enacted, that rate is down to 2.5%.
The idea that tax cuts aimed at corporations and the rich would bestow economic gifts on all of us is flawed. Because that's not how the economy works in real life. Corporations don't make investment decisions based on tax giveaways. And wages don't automatically increase with tax cuts or with productivity improvements.
President Trump's signature legislative accomplishment has turned out to be an expensive failure. He will run on his economic record next year, but he should be careful what he wishes for. Given what a bust his tax cuts have been, voters may not be as inclined to trust his economic stewardship.
Failures
North Korea ready to test ICBMs to hit the US total failure with his nuclear negotiations.
The US no longer a trusted ally in the world since he does things alone by his gut not any thought out rationale way based on facts
Ignores facts, doesn't want detail since his gut is already right.
Dismantling many agreements especially climate-related since in his fantasy mind climate change is a hoax.
99 proven false statements in last two weeks. Emotional irrational rants about impeachment being wrong since all is perfect.
Totally deluded whose closest friend is Putin doing his bidding and making sure no one else talks and tells the truth.
Trump has done more damage to the U.S. in world affairs than probably any other President in history, ignores the Constitution and makes up his only "alternative facts" vs the truth.
