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Media Downplays Trump Economy Success

The media has, for the most part, underplayed an important news issue: the dramatic recovery of the U.S. economy in the first year of the Trump Administration. Wall Street may fluctuate, but in contrast to the Obama years, Main Street is doing better

While individual statistical reports have grudgingly disclosed the welcome numbers, the overall impact of policies that promised (and recently delivered) lower taxes, decreased regulation, and the rejection of anti-energy production policies have been largely un-discussed.

From 2010—2016, the average GDP under Obama was about 2.12, including a dismal 1.9 in 2016. The fact is, the fiscal environment was getting worse, not better, as the impact of President Obama’s regulatory excesses, and his anti-energy policies became more deeply embedded. GDP never exceeded 3% annually, for the first time in the past seventy years. In sharp contrast since Trump’s election, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis “Real gross domestic product  increased at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the third quarter of  2017. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.1 percent.”

Even Americans outside of the job market suffered. While Obama dramatically increased spending on food stamp programs and assistance to illegal aliens, social security recipients during his administration received the lowest levels of cost of living increases since the Social Security cost of living system began.

In President Trump’s first year, MSN noted in January, “the economy has done something it has been unable to do since 2005: maintain 3 percent growth for three quarters in a row.” Forbes adds that “Over the past year, the stock market has boomed, GDP growth has improved and unemployment is at an almost 17-year low.” Black unemployment has reached historic lows since President Trump took office. In the latest statistics released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 6.9% of black adults were unemployed in February. ZeroHedge’s Tyler Durden emphasized that total U.S. employee compensation rose in the fourth quarter to match the biggest 12-month gain since 2008, as private-sector pay picked up. Total compensation, which includes wages and benefits, rose 2.7% over the past 12 months, the highest since 2008.

DC Statesman noted that “U.S. employers added 200,000 jobs in January. Wages soared at the best pace in over 8 years. And it’s all thanks to President Trump’s tax plan. Employers are competing for a smaller pool of candidates because the unemployment rate is so low. This is causing businesses to increase wages in order to compete with the dwindling employee market. 18 different states have seen minimum wage increases and raises are aplenty thanks to businesses keeping more of their earnings thanks to the tax plan. Speaking of the unemployment rate, it sits at 4.1% for the 4th straight month. It is at its lowest level since 2000.”

Executives and customer care officials are available for the student support 24/7 and this makes their queries very easy wholesale viagra 100mg and inexpensive. cialis 10 mg To help men improve their sexual health and to live life at the fullest level. It was also stated viagra cost regencygrandenursing.com that some saddle designs were more damaging than the others. This is so because the energy level then tends to decrease so one has to take help of levitra tab 20mg certain emotion. The actual nature of the job creation story has been the most underplayed. The latest release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)  discloses that “Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 313,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent. Job gains occurred in construction, retail trade, professional and business services, manufacturing, financial activities, and mining. Incorporating revisions for December and January, which increased nonfarm payroll employment by 54,000, monthly job gains have averaged 242,000 over the past 3 months.”

While all of those increases are welcome, the manufacturing and mining hikes are the most notable.  As noted by the BLS, “Manufacturing employment grew by 31,000 in February. The industry has added 224,000 jobs over the past 12 months. In February, mining employment rose by 9,000, with most of the job gain occurring in support activities for mining (+7,000). Since a recent low point in October 2016, mining has added 69,000 jobs.”

Job creation under Obama was largely confined to low-income jobs with no benefits. Job creation under Trump, in contrast, has been in better paying, middle-class positions.

In a critique of the Obama Administration’s post-recession policies, Peter Ferrara, writing for The Hill,  noted: “Historically, the worse the recession is, the stronger the recovery typically is. The economy grows faster than normal for a while to catch up to its long-term economic growth trendline… Based on that metric, the economy should have come out of the recession booming. But [during the Obama Administration that never] happened.

Despite that, notes The Heritage Foundation “Still Donald Trump gets no respect. Even though nearly every poll for the past six years tells us that Americans care most about jobs and the economy (with terrorism occasionally taking over first place), the media naturally won’t cover the undeniable economic speed up since the election of Donald J. Trump… If the economy and jobs had done this well under President Obama he and the media would have been doing cartwheels down Pennsylvania Avenue. Even worse, when the media does cover the jobs and growth story, every reporter asks me: does Mr. Trump deserve credit for these numbers? Well if he doesn’t, who does? Liberals argue that this is a continuation of the Obama recovery, but there’s a big problem with that analysis: the economy was decelerating under Mr. Obama, not speeding up. In Mr. Obama’s last year in office, 2016, the economy was barely limping to keep ahead of another recession.”

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U.S. Economy’s Dramatic Improvement

How has the economic outlook changed since the election?

For the bulk of the Obama presidency, a supportive media produced a consistent stream of highly questionable good news.  It was said that, following the ravages of the Great Recession, the unemployment numbers were improving.  Upon closer inspection, the truth was far, far less optimistic.  A combination of a historically dismal labor participation rate, along with the replacement of full-time, benefits-paying positions with low-paying, part time jobs providing no benefits artificially made it seem as though the labor market was doing better than it actually was. Median hourly pay rose only  7% over seven years. Those fortunate enough to actually have jobs received practically no wage increases.  It was said that inflation was low, but any trip to the supermarket contradicted that claim.  (It didn’t, however, prevent the Social Security Administration from using that as an excuse to deprive seniors of cost of living increases.) Taxes remained high, and health care premiums rose, making the squeeze on middle-income Americans dire. Non-housing debt increased.

Reuters reported in 2015 that “families in the middle fifth of the income scale now earn less and their net worth is lower than when Obama took office…the middle, the economy has shed positions – whether in traditional trades like machining or electrical work, white-collar jobs in human resources, or technical ones like computer operators.”

The decline of the middle class under Obama cannot be pinned on the Recession.  The poorly thought-out provisions of Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) actually served to encourage employers to shed full time positions in favor of part time replacements. Key middle class jobs in the energy and defense sectors were quite openly attacked. The continuation of high tax rates and onerous regulations discouraged employment growth. While vast swaths of the economy were hit with interference from Washington, the explosive growth of tuition in colleges, institutions that were overtly supportive of the Obama Administration, were allowed to continue unaddressed. Regulations made many products too prohibitively expensive to manufacture in America, and were replaced by foreign made goods. According to the financial site Seeking Alpha “The homeownership rate in 2016 was the lowest in 50 years.”

With just ten months into the new Trump Administration, (and following  the effects of three deadly hurricanes) it may be too early to make any definitive statements on how the economy will change.  However, both significant policy changes as well as some early statistics indicate that a period of growth and, particularly for the middle class, improvement in economic fortunes, is occurring.
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In August, after the first complete fiscal quarter under the new White House, it was reported that economic growth reached 3%. CNN Money  has reported that in the The U.S. economy picked up steam during the second quarter…During the first full quarter with President Trump in charge, economic growth hit 3%, according to revised estimates released by the government on Wednesday.” This follows the reality that, during the entire 8 years of the Obama presidency, the U.S. economy never hit an annual growth rate of 3%, despite the expected “bounce” that generally follows a recession.

The Washington Times reports that “the U.S. economy is booming faster than any time since the late [1990s] It is undeniable. And the pace of improvement is quickening. In the last year of the Obama administration, the economy was decelerating with a dismal 1.6 percent growth rate. The economy revved up to a three percent growth rate in the April-June 2nd quarter this year…It’s easy to read too much into short term trends and, yes, they can turn on a dime. But the new bounce in the step of the economy is confirmed by many other indicators, almost all of which point straight north.The Dow Jones industrial average is up over 3,000 points (starting with the 700 point rally the day after the election) and the net wealth of Americans — mostly through their pension funds — has increased by more than $4 trillion.In August the University of Michigan, which tracks consumer sentiment, reported that confidence soared to near its highest level in at least a decade. Other surveys by the NFIB and the National Association of Manufacturers find that confidence for their members is hovering at near record highs.”

Adding to the optimism are reports that the U.S. economy has added over a million jobs in 2017.

Wayne Allen Root, writing for Townhall, reports that “The DOW has risen almost 25% since Election Day. That’s an increase of over 4,300 points in about 11 months. That’s the biggest increase in that period of time in the history of the stock market. The S&P 500 has passed $20 trillion in value for the first time in history. President Trump is also the only President in history to oversee two nine-day or longer stock rallies (where new highs are reached each day). Included in that record is the 12-day rally ending on February 28th– matching the all-time record set by President Reagan in 1987. Since the election of President Trump, the stock market has hit 63 closing highs, with 46 since Trump’s inauguration. On the other hand, Obama had exactly -0- stock market highs in his first four years in office. In total President Trump has added over $5 trillion to the U.S. economy since his election. GDP is hard evidence of how ‘mom and pop’ are doing on Main Street. Under Obama, America suffered the eight worst consecutive GDP years in history. Obama’s eight-year GDP average was 1.3%- the exact same GDP number as the period of the Great Depression. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. GDP has now been adjusted to a remarkable 3.1% growth in the second quarter (Trump’s first full quarter as president). That’s almost THREE TIMES HIGHER than Obama’s average GDP over his two terms. That grew our total U.S. GDP to almost $20 trillion- the highest GDP in history…According to the Bureau of Labor Household Survey, the number of employed Americans increased by an amazing 906,000 for the month of September. But that’s not even the highlight. Remember that almost every single job created in eight years under Obama was a crappy, low-wage, part-time job. Well under President Trump last month, full-time jobs (the kind we all want and need) increased by 935,000- the most in one month in the 21st century.”

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Why America’s Economy is Failing

The federal 2017 fiscal year began this month, and the news about its 2016 predecessor is deeply worrisome.

According to the Treasury Department, Washington spent more than $587 billion than it took in in revenue, a deficit that jumped 34% from last year. The government spent $3.9 trillion dollars, but took in “only” $3.3 trillion, a record high amount.  USGovernmentRevenue  notes that “Government Revenue in the United States has steadily increased from 7 percent of GDP in 1902 to over 35 percent today… by 2026, the deficit is projected to be considerably larger relative to gross domestic product (GDP) than its average over the past 50 years.”

The US Debt Clock notes that as of the time this report was being prepared, the federal debt was $19,703,158,000,000. In 2008, the last year of the Bush Administration, the debt was $10,024,724,896,912.49, as recorded by Polidiotic,  As a sign of the weakening economy, the federal budget deficit will increase in relation to economic output for the first time since 2009.

Relief is nowhere in sight, The Congressional Budget Office reports that “If current laws generally remained unchanged—an assumption underlying CBO’s baseline projections—deficits would continue to mount over the next 10 years, and debt held by the public would rise from its already high level.”

The Obama Administration has almost doubled the national debt. What’s worse, it has nothing to show for all that spending. It cannot blame the 2007—2009 recession (which was the result of federal policies that forced lending institutions to give credit to individuals with a poor prospects of paying it back.) “Even seven years after the recession ended, the current stretch of economic gains has yielded less growth than much shorter business cycles…In terms of average annual growth, the pace of [the post recession period]… has been by far the weakest of any since 1949” notes the Wall Street Journal.

The Obama approach to spending and federal budgeting has devastated the middle class. The Institute for Policy Innovation notes that when it comes to the middle class he “has failed miserably… Median household income is lower today than when he took office.” Senior Citizens have been poorly treated, receiving less in cost of living increases than they have at any time in decades.

Where has the money gone?

America’s infrastructure needs are certainly not being met.

The American Society of Civil Engineers “2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure” graded the nation’s infrastructure a “D+” . In 2013, for surface transportation categories:

  • Roads received a grade of D as compared to a grade of D- in 2009;
  • Bridges received a grade of C+, up from a C in 2009;
  • Transit received a D, showing no change from 2009; and
  • Rail received a grade of C+, up from a C-, the greatest increase in the 2009 Report Card.”

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There has been no noticeable improvement since that analysis was completed.

The spending hasn’t gone into defense, either.  In constant 2015 dollars, the Pentagon has been cut from $740 billion in 2009 to $525 billion in 2016, as reported by Heritage. Even crucial needs are going unmet. As Russia, China, and North Korea ramp up their nuclear arsenals, President Obama has actually decreased his funding requests for crucially needed missile defense. The last request by President Bush was for $9.3 billion; the 2016 request by President Obama was $8.1 billion. Nor has the current White House taken any effective action to protect the nation’s electrical grid from an EMP disaster resulting either from a natural occurrence or an enemy attack. Such an incident could destroy the entire U.S. electrical grid, resulting in massive casualties from the lack of power, shut down reservoirs, and the elimination of any means to transport food or provide medical care. Other more conventional military elements, such as manpower, have also been cut.  America’s Army is now smaller than North Korea’s, our navy is the smallest it has been since World War I, and the air force’s inventory of planes is the smallest and oldest it has been in the entire history of that service.

Even comparatively tiny federal programs have been slashed. NASA’s manned space flight effort was virtually eliminated by Obama.  The Space Shuttle program was prematurely shut down. Its planned successor was also cut. NASA will not be capable of putting an astronaut in space until the next decade. At a Congressional hearing earlier this year reported by the Daily Caller.  Rep. Brian Babin,(R-Texas)  chairman of the House Subcommittee on Space stated that the White House “budget takes our human spaceflight program nowhere fast. This budget undermines our space program and diverts critical funding to lower priority items…Orion and [the Space Launch System] are strategic national assets and must be sufficiently funded. Proposed cuts to the planetary science division are equally disturbing.”

The basic, and very expensive,  thrust of President Obama’s budgetary policies has been de-emphasizing a capitalist approach that, despite occasional recessions, was responsible for developing and maintaining the planet’s most robust economy, replacing it with one that more closely resembles the social democrat approaches of other nations, including large welfare programs (the supplemental nutrition assistance program has grown 42% under his watch) and the transformation of America’s medical system into a more federally centered effort. In large part, “Obamacare” is based on federal subsidies. Not unsurprisingly, many report that the quality of care has been reduced.

Mr. Obama’s emphasis on attempting to reduce poverty through vast spending programs has backfired. Indeed, the poverty rate has actually gone up on his watch, increasing from 13.2% in 2008 to 13.5%, while destabilizing the federal budget.

Attacking the engine of economic growth–the free market–with excess regulations and continued high taxes–while initiating massive spending on social programs driven more by ideology and politics than the hope of actually producing a growing economy has caused significant harm both to the federal budget and the overall economic health of the nation.