Another booming quarter, and even Democrats can't
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Posted On: 10/29/2018 3:49:36 PM
Another booming quarter, and even Democrats can't complain about the economy
Last Dec. 22, President Trump signed the tax reform bill — you know, the one that all Democrats loudly decried (but only a few decry now) as the “tax scam.”
That bill came on top of several major deregulatory measures during Trump’s first year.
On Friday, we saw the results for the second quarter since the “tax scam” went into effect.
And guess what? Its unexpectedly strong 3.5 percent annualized growth is a strong follow-up to the 4.1 percent growth in the second quarter of the year.
Together, that makes for the best two-quarter stretch since 2014.
Inflation is down to a 1.6 percent annual rate. Consumer spending is up by 4 percent. Unemployment is down — especially black and Hispanic unemployment — and nearly 4 million new jobs have been created since January 2017.
Real wages have risen in each of the last five months in a row.
Forecasters now project that the next quarter’s report will show 3 percent growth, which would make for the best three-quarter period since before the recession and financial crisis of a decade ago.
That’s a lot of evidence of success. But if you really want to see the effect that tax reform is having on the economy, then just look at this year’s election and the rhetoric surrounding it.
Yes, Democrats and their partisans in the media are attacking President Trump loudly and all other Republicans with him. They decry Trump as a ruthless fascist and racist who is killing millions of people and will destroy the planet using nothing but his mouth.
But listen all day long and you won’t hear a single one complain that he’s done a bad job on the economy.
The Democrats refrain from that complaint because they know that it’s no use — no one will find them credible.
The absolute and complete silence on the economy as an issue is astounding to those of us who have covered elections since the turn of the century.
The last time there was so little focus on economic problems during a political election campaign was probably 2000, when the economy was nothing beyond an unambiguously positive factor for Al Gore’s presidential campaign.
To be sure, Trump has made some bad decisions as president. His tax hikes — tariffs — are currently working against the forces of prosperity that were otherwise unleashed by lower tax rates.
But if he is serious about using tariffs only as a negotiating tactic, and further about getting U.S.-U.K. and U.S.-China trade deals in place during the next term, then there might be some very good economic news ahead.
All voters have to do is refrain from electing a Democratic Congress that will try to impeach Trump and do nothing useful.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/ed...he-economy
Last Dec. 22, President Trump signed the tax reform bill — you know, the one that all Democrats loudly decried (but only a few decry now) as the “tax scam.”
That bill came on top of several major deregulatory measures during Trump’s first year.
On Friday, we saw the results for the second quarter since the “tax scam” went into effect.
And guess what? Its unexpectedly strong 3.5 percent annualized growth is a strong follow-up to the 4.1 percent growth in the second quarter of the year.
Together, that makes for the best two-quarter stretch since 2014.
Inflation is down to a 1.6 percent annual rate. Consumer spending is up by 4 percent. Unemployment is down — especially black and Hispanic unemployment — and nearly 4 million new jobs have been created since January 2017.
Real wages have risen in each of the last five months in a row.
Forecasters now project that the next quarter’s report will show 3 percent growth, which would make for the best three-quarter period since before the recession and financial crisis of a decade ago.
That’s a lot of evidence of success. But if you really want to see the effect that tax reform is having on the economy, then just look at this year’s election and the rhetoric surrounding it.
Yes, Democrats and their partisans in the media are attacking President Trump loudly and all other Republicans with him. They decry Trump as a ruthless fascist and racist who is killing millions of people and will destroy the planet using nothing but his mouth.
But listen all day long and you won’t hear a single one complain that he’s done a bad job on the economy.
The Democrats refrain from that complaint because they know that it’s no use — no one will find them credible.
The absolute and complete silence on the economy as an issue is astounding to those of us who have covered elections since the turn of the century.
The last time there was so little focus on economic problems during a political election campaign was probably 2000, when the economy was nothing beyond an unambiguously positive factor for Al Gore’s presidential campaign.
To be sure, Trump has made some bad decisions as president. His tax hikes — tariffs — are currently working against the forces of prosperity that were otherwise unleashed by lower tax rates.
But if he is serious about using tariffs only as a negotiating tactic, and further about getting U.S.-U.K. and U.S.-China trade deals in place during the next term, then there might be some very good economic news ahead.
All voters have to do is refrain from electing a Democratic Congress that will try to impeach Trump and do nothing useful.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/ed...he-economy
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