Trump supporters like to crow about the great economy that Trump has given us. But let’s not go quite so fast.
First of all, it is not at all clear that Trump is the one who has given us this economy. If we follow the data from Bush’s depression (2008) onward and through Obama’s planned recovery, it is clear that the economy has been recovering on a smooth track ever since Obama took office.
Second, it is not clear that we have a great economy right now in spite of the fact that certain measures try to confirm it. Unemployment figures and the stock market are the chief trumping points. But while the unemployment figures are amazingly low, another measure shows that the quality of employment is decreasing. Sure many more people are working but they are also earning less and working more jobs.
The stock market is super high but what does that really mean and whom does it benefit. I suppose it means that investment is strong, which is good, but strong investment does not necessarily mean good jobs for employees. What we have is a corporate culture that sees maximizing profits for investors and CEOs as its only true goal. That does not translate into good jobs, good working conditions, or quality products.
What Trump has done for the economy is to head toward unrestricted and unrestrained Capitalism, meaning that food safety and environments are at risk in ways they have not been in a century. He has also enabled a gross acceleration in the widening of the wealth gap. Indeed, perhaps the very best test of any economy is to examine the wealth gap. The best days in the American economy were, in my opinion, when there was a healthy middle class and, hence, a more-or-less smooth distribution of wealth. That is far from true today.
