President Obama and his political team had a way of labelling pet projects as if they were lifted out of George Orwell’s 1984. For example, the so-called Affordable Care Act was anything but affordable, which is why it became known as Obamacare.
The Iran “deal” was a great deal for Iran, because the dictatorship received 1.7 billion dollars in cash from the United States, and, in return, the U.S. got an enemy that chanted “Death to America” and spent the billions shipped by Obama to enrich its nuclear arsenal, while allying with the Syrian dictator, who murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians with chemical gas.
What’s So Great About Slow Growth?
It’s true that Obama inherited an economy that was in recession. But, if we discount the below-water, minus 2.8% GDP during Obama’s first quarter in office, the average GDP for the next seven years was about 2.1%. Of course, that meant slow growth throughout Obama’s eight years in office.
In fact, the Federal Reserve did Obama a favor by lowering interest rates: On July 1, 2016, the 30-year Treasury rate was only 2.24%. That meant 30-year fixed mortgage rates dropped to 3.5%, close to the all-time low of 3.31% in 2012. You might assume the economy would respond in leaps and bounds, right?
Wrong. Instead, people had to pay more—a lot more–for healthcare, thanks to Obamacare, and Obama kept applying new regulations, e.g., the EPA’s burdensome restrictions on coal production and ending President George W. Bush’s tax cuts.
What “The New Normal” Really Means
Despite the economic sluggishness, Obama had a phrase for it: “The New Normal.”
What did that phrase mean? It meant that puny growth was all the U.S. economy could expect going forward.
But, in reality, Obama was trying to bamboozle the American public. Beneath Obama’s Orwellian “new normal,” lay the truth. The president wouldn’t permit the economy to grow as it was fully capable of doing. Instead of pushing the gas pedal, he was putting on the brakes.
Enter President Trump, the Optimist
The interesting thing about President Trump’s approach to the economy was that he knew Obama was deceptive. He realized Obama had imposed false limitations on the economy’s potential and generated more unemployment to make people more dependent on government largesse.
However, Trump, a businessman who became a billionaire making smart deals, knew by taking away Obama’s self-imposed handicaps he could restore manufacturing in the U.S., and increase employment. He knew Obama’s “new normal” was as inhibiting as telling Babe Ruth to hit singles instead of homers.
Of course, saying Obama’s slogan is bunk is one thing. Proving it is another. But now we know Obama lied to excuse his own weak economy and enhance his own reputation. We know, because under Trump, during 2018’s second quarter, GDP rose to 4.1%, a rate that hasn’t been seen in four years!
In fact, if we compare GDP during Obama’s last six quarters to Trump’s first six, Obama’s average growth was 1.8%; Trump’s, 2.53%. As President Trump points out, each GDP point adds three trillion dollars to the economy and ten million jobs.
Unemployment Becomes Employment
But that’s not the whole story of the burgeoning economic boom under Trump.
The unemployment rate is now 3.8%. And the unemployment rates for blacks, Hispanics, and women are at all-time lows.
In less than two years in office, the Trump administration initiated lower personal and business tax rates through legislation and increased employment in manufacturing by encouraging domestic and foreign companies to stay and/or open new plants in the U.S.
The result? The Trump administration not only smashed Obama’s average unemployment rate of 7.44%, but even beat President Reagan’s, which averaged 7.51%, because of extraordinarily high interest rates during Reagan’s early years in office. However, when Reagan left office in 1988, it was 5.5%.
Some Democrats Cheer for Socialism
With all this good economic news, you might wonder what the Democrats are complaining about?
Well, it seems many Democrats don’t like capitalism. A young woman from New York City, an outspoken socialist, won her New York City primary, beating a long-serving Democrat congressman. Obviously, some Democrats think socialism is the better way. Now she and socialist senator Bernie Sanders are campaigning together, advocating a multitude of government giveaways.
Not all Democrats agree, however. And there is a definite split in the party between progressives, who might as well admit they’re socialists, and more mainstream Democrats, who just prefer increased government spending, higher taxes, and lots of government welfare.
With the Trump economy on the rise, people will have a distinct choice in the November mid-term elections. They can either enjoy capitalism’s gallop down the road, with secure jobs and more money in their pockets or return to the Obama days of “the new normal,” when economic growth played second fiddle to government control.
Jim’s Daily Rant is owned and operated by James I. Greene. All rights protected by copyright from reproduction without permission.
Jim's Daily Rant 