To: Sdgla who wrote (1176587 ) 11/9/2019 4:37:04 PM From: J_F_Shepard Respond to We have the greatest economy in our history...... brookings.edu is better than it has been in many decades ,” the Economy is raging at an all-time high, and is set to get even better ,” and It has been many years that we have seen these kind of (economic) numbers .” While some hyperbole is a matter of opinion, Trump’s claim that his stewardship of the economy puts his predecessors to shame can be checked by public information that is readily available to all. In fact, the data show that compared to his predecessors, Trump’s record so far falls somewhere between unremarkable and substandard. Moreover, other economic data suggest that the current expansion will likely wind down before his term ends, and his boasting will ring hollow once the economy slips into recession.Comparing that pace to his last nine predecessors over comparable periods in their first terms, Trump here bests the four presidents who faced recessions in their first year in office (Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon). Trump’s other five predecessors came to office, as he did, during economic expansions. Among them, he’s tied for last place: Real GDP growth under Trump over the three quarters has lagged Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson and John Kennedy, and tied George H.W. Bush, as the data in the following table shows. The Early Economic Records of Presidents from Kennedy to Trump President GDP Business Investment Investment in Equipment Kennedy 7.0% 8.3% 14.2% Johnson 6.3% 10.7% 11.9% Nixon 0.0% -1.6% -0.3% Carter 2.7% 8.2% 12.2% Reagan -2.1% 3.0% -3.0% Bush-1 2.6% 0.5% -0.2% Clinton 3.5% 7.7% 13.5% Bush-2 1.1% -4.7% -6.1% Obama 2.2% 1.5% 14.7% Trump 2.6% 5.9% 9.0%
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis. These measures represent annual growth rates of real GDP, business fixed investment, and investment in equipment over the three quarters from each president’s third, fourth and fifth quarters in office. he cut onerous regulations and Congress slashed the corporate tax rate.the results in comparable periods under his predecessors . On overall business investment, Trump’s record again beats the four presidents who faced recessions in their first year in office (Obama, Bush-2, Reagan and Nixon), plus Bush-1)—hardly a heavy lift—and trails his four other predecessors (Clinton, Carter, LBJ and JFK). On investment in equipment, the comparisons are the same except here he trails Obama as well the four other Democratic presidents since 1960.
