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Here is a comparison across both economic outcomes and health outcomes.
Even your data shows the economic outcomes inline with the rest of the developed world, and the health outcomes inline with many developed nations. I also wish it was a bit more precise and showed GDP growth rates and changes in unemployment. Did it take into account the dramatic decline in unemployment in the US recently?
GDP growth is a single metric, and 2.53% against 2.2% isn't much of a difference. Not compared with the 5%+ we were promised. Now factor in budget deficits, trade deficits, cost of living and wage growth, and see where that leaves us for the economy as a whole.
GDP growth is just a single metric. Lets look at wage growth. Wage growth was higher under Trump than Obama, partly because as unemployment falls, employers are forced to raise wages, and we saw that trend begin under Obama. We saw unemployment fall to 3.7% which is an impressive historical low. We would have expected the unemployment decline to continue, but not necessarily that it would have fallen to 3.7%.
2.53% is not that much higher than 2.2% but it is still a noticeable increase. Also, economists were predicting it would decline to less than 2% because there is less room to expand as an expansion continues. And these better than expected numbers were obviously due to government polices that were good in the short term, but bad in the long term.
I know. I have also been critical of Obama's failed campaign promises.
I disagree that it is the voters' fault for believing. It is the voters' fault for permitting it, and then making excuses for them as long as they are on their 'team.'
But voters need to be fact checking the claims and promises candidates are making. They fell for Obama's "Hope and Change", and Trump's "Make America Great Again." These are the kinds of people who get elected unfortunately.
When you hire someone who promises to deliver a product, it shouldn't be unreasonable to expect them to deliver the product that they said they would deliver. And when they fail to deliver, they should be held accountable for their failures. I would much rather work with someone who promises less but who actually delivers.
Its totally fair to blaming Trump for not delivering. But not because the economy was bad. The economy was good. Problem was he did bad things to make it good, and he lied when making those big promises. Of course people should have known he was lying the minute he opened his mouth.
You aren't wrong.
As an aside, I don't really see how the "increase-the-deficit-to-inject-into-the-economy" party is supposed to be the "conservative" party.
The Republicans are a lot more focused on economic prosperity than the Democrats are. Borrowing money and injecting it into the economy is a lot better for elections than making short-term sacrifices for long-term growth.
What the President is responsible for is making outlandish boasts, failing to follow through on them, and failing to acknowledge any of his own failures. That is what I am holding him accountable for.
And I agree. He should be held accountable for his lies.
As for our economy, my posts are not meant to arbitrate exactly how much responsibility the president bears for the economy. I leave that to the discretion of the reader. Those who believe the President single-handedly gave us the very greatest economy this nation has ever seen are welcome to follow that logic to see that he single-handedly wrecked our economy as well. Those who consider that the President isn't entirely responsible for our economic troubles are welcome to consider that he was also not entirely to credit for our economic successes.
I agree that people should realize that placing the sole blame and credit for the economy on one man is just ridiculous. I was debating conservatives when they blamed Obama for the bad economy, or democrats credited Obama for the recovery, or when Republicans credited Trump for the good economy.