I am reading this news article about how Donald Trump keeps saying he inherited a terrible economy from Joe Biden, and I am just losing my mind – can’t he just get his facts straight for once? And what’s with the constant whining about inflation, didn’t he know that was largely caused by the pandemic and Putin’s war in Ukraine?
But let’s get back to the economy, because apparently, Trump thinks it’s all about him. By standard economic measures, the US economy was doing great when Biden left office, with a low unemployment rate of 4.1%, which is (correction) actually really good. I mean, what even is a good economy, right? Is it just about the stock market, or is it about people having jobs and being able to afford things?
And can we talk about the stock market for a second, because it seems like that’s all Trump cares about – I mean, he’s always boasting about how well it did under him, but the fact is, it did way better under Biden, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising by 39% and the S&P 500 soaring by 55.7%, which is just insane. You can check out the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Amazon, just for kicks.
But, I guess what really gets my goat is that Trump is trying to blame Biden for the potential recession that’s looming, when really, it’s his own trade war that’s spooking the markets and making CEOs rethink their investment plans – I mean, come on, can’t he just take responsibility for his own actions for once? And have you seen the article about how stocks tanked under Trump? It’s just crazy.
And, on a completely unrelated note, has anyone tried those new coffee pods from Amazon – they’re supposed to be really good, and I need something to keep me awake while I’m reading about Trump’s economic antics. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, which is that the economy under Biden was actually doing pretty well, with GDP growth rising at a solid 3.1% rate, and the US adding 16.6m jobs during his presidency, which is more than any other four-year term of any previous US president – now that’s what I call a good economy.
But, I mean, who needs facts when you have Trump’s tweets, right? He’s always saying that the economy under Biden was a disaster, but really, it was just a bunch of fake news. And don’t even get me started on his tariffs, which are just going to bring back manufacturing jobs, or so he claims – but didn’t Biden already do that, with the Chips Act and all that?
And, I guess what’s really frustrating is that many economists agree that the economy under Biden was actually really good, with Paul Krugman saying it was “very close to a Goldilocks economy, in which everything is more or less just right”, and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, saying it was “about as good as it ever gets” – but do we listen to them, no, we just listen to Trump’s tweets instead.
But, I mean, who’s to say what’s really going on with the economy, right? Is it the Economist saying it’s the envy of the world, or is it Trump saying it’s a disaster? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, but in the meantime, can we please just get some facts straight – like, for example, the fact that the US economy was actually doing pretty well under Biden, with economic growth being stronger than in other G7 nations.
And, on a final note, I just want to say that I’m so done with Trump’s antics, and I wish he would just take responsibility for his own actions for once – but until then, I’ll just be over here, drinking my coffee and reading about the economy. You can check out some economic books on Amazon, if you’re interested.