Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Politics, Taxes, The United States, Unemployment | Tags: Former President Obama, Pelosi & Schumer, President Donald Trump
New York Times correspondent Peter Baker’s new book Obama: The Call of History was recently updated to include the information that “former President Obama took President Trump’s win and Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016 as a personal insult.”
Obama has talked a lot about his “legacy.” Most presidents, I imagine, are concerned about how history will view the challenges they faced and the job they did. But once they’re done, that’s up to the historians. Obama has had rather glorified ideas about his presidential library, and quite a battle with the city of Chicago and his selection of a prime piece of parkland, much to the distress of the neighbors. Democrats expected Hillary to win, and it was undoubtedly a shock to Obama.
There’s a favorite saying of political consultants: “It’s the economy, stupid.” The Wall Street Journal remarked yesterday that “The best news is that the beneficiaries of this tight labor market are the folks who struggled during the slow growth Obama years.” Government actions are not abstract things that are only important to the hovering newspersons. They have a major impact on the American people’s pocketbooks and well-being. Many people are now working who were living on food stamps.
Obama never, in eight years, achieved even 2% growth, but doubled the national debt. It was the slowest and most sluggish recovery under Obama, in history. They talked about it, and Obama’s economists said that times had just changed and there was no hope of ever getting back over 2% growth.
President Trump is going to meet with Pelosi and Schumer to talk about “infrastructure” which they supposedly think is important. Trump wants $1 trillion, but Schumer says Trump is going to have to get rid of some of those tax cuts. I keep saying that Democrats do not understand free market economics, and they keep insisting that I’m absolutely correct. Can’t have this booming economy, it makes the Democrats look bad. The Wall Street Journal:
Many of the robust job gains came in businesses that hire those with less education. Construction added 33,000 jobs last month, for example, and has added 256,000 over the last year. Most of the new construction jobs last month were in nonresidential and heavy civil engineering work, which suggests that business investment may be picking up after a weak first quarter.
In a separate report earlier this week, the Labor Department reported that worker productivity increased 3.6% in the fourth quarter and 2.4% from a year ago, the fastest rate since 2010. This continues the productivity-growth trend from 2018, which has followed faster capital investment after tax reform and deregulation. This bodes well for faster wage gains over time. increased 3.6% in the fourth quarter and 2.4% from a year ago, the fastest rate since 2010. This continues the productivity-growth trend from 2018, which has followed faster capital investment after tax reform and deregulation. This bodes well for faster wage gains over time.
Everybody talks about “infrastructure” but not about just what infrastructure they are so anxious to build. Before you start casually spending another trillion dollars, please explain just what you have in mind. How about a nice wall at the southern border?
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Freedom, Law, Politics, Regulation, Taxes | Tags: 2017 Tax Cuts, Armageddon, Bewildered Democrats
I think that Democrats are taught with their very first political lesson that Republicans always give tax cuts to the rich because they don’t care about ordinary people like us. They just care about rich people. Fortunately, David Harsanyi over at the Federalist rounded up lots of Democrat commentary that proves my thesis.
It was Larry Summers, Bill Clinton’s former Treasury Secretary and Barack Obama’s White House economic adviser, who warned that tax reform would lead to over 10,000 dead Americans every year, in December of 2017. Summers, considered a reasonable moderate by today’s political standards, was just one of the many fearmongers.
The same month, after cautioning that passage of tax cuts would portend “Armageddon,” then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi explained that the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), a reform of corporate tax codes and a wide-ranging relief, was “the worst bill in the history of the United States Congress.”…
None of this is even getting into the MSM’s straight news coverage, which persistently (and falsely) painted the bill as a tax cut for the wealthy. “One-Third of Middle Class Families Could End up Paying More Under the GOP Tax Plan” noted Money magazine. an Associated Press headline read, “House Passes First Rewrite of Nation’s Tax Laws in Three Decades, Providing Steep Tax Cuts for Businesses, the Wealthy.” “Poor Americans Would Lose Billions Under Senate GOP Tax Bill” reported CNN. Yahoo News ran one piece after the next predicting doom.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent last month, the lowest level of unemployment since 1969. Since Richard Nixon was in his first year as president. The economy added 263,000 new jobs in April. Wages are growing as well. They were up 3.2 percent in April, marking the ninth straight month of 3 percent gains. The White House Council of Economic Advisers noted: “Prior to 2018, nominal average hourly wage gains had not reached 3 percent since April 2009. Two days earlier, the Fed said that “On a 12-month basis, overall inflation and inflation for items other than food and energy have declined and are running below 2 percent.
Growth: The accelerated rate of job growth under Trump is widespread, too. Manufacturing jobs climbed 470,000 since Trump took office. They went up by a meager 18,000 in Obama’s last 28 moths in office. Goods-producing jobs shot up by 1.2 million after Trump took office, compared with a paltry 241,000 gain for Obama. Construction jobs climbed 629,000 under Trump, after a 352,000 gain under Obama, has been accelerating under Trump.
American Elephants 