Today’s entry: Good morning Brian, I know you’re a numbers guy so please educate me on how to respond to people that say that the economic success we are enjoying, is a direct result of President Obama’s actions and policies. Thanks
Bottom Line: This has cropped up again since President Obama’s recent tweet in which he seemed to suggest he was behind the record economy. There are endless ways in which I could illustrate the contrast and the difference. I’ll pick two. Actual economic growth rates and specific to us, us income rates.
The first is this, in President Obama’s eight years as President, the average growth rate was 1.8%. He also became the first president in American history, who completed at least one term as President, and didn’t produce at least one year of average (3%) or better growth. But that alone doesn’t explain the best answer to your question. President Obama’s final year as President, 2016, saw a growth rate of only 1.6%. So not only was President Obama’s economic record among the poorest on record, his final year in office saw an even slower economy, with growth below even his administration’s poor average. That’s what President Trump inherited. By comparison, President Trump’s average has been 2.6% and the growth rate average has been even higher after the first six months in office as his initial policies aimed at deregulation first started to kick in. In fact, we’ve only had one quarter in the first three years of the Trump administration in which growth has been a low as it was during the average of the Obama administration. Now for what it means to you...
- Under Obama: Income growth was 2%
- Under Trump: Income growth is averaging 3%
It stands to reason we’d see the much faster income growth because consumer spending accounts for most of our country’s economic growth. There are so many additional ways I could illustrate the point, including record employment, wages rising fastest for those who earn the least, record stock market performance, etc...but the bottom line is this. The information is empirical. No one can factually argue to the contrary. There are two sides to stories and one side to facts. President Trump’s economy has grown significantly faster, resulting in record opportunity, wages, and net worth. Those are indisputable facts. Also, despite the person or people you’re looking to address with this information...most Americans get it too. Despite the endless negativity in the news media and from 2020 Democrat contenders...on the direction of the country question – we're 13% more optimistic today than during the Obama years.
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