Trump Has Wrecked The Economy (And Blaming Biden Won't Work)

The following is just a tiny part of an excellent post by Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman:

When Politico recently asked Donald Trump to grade the current U.S. economy, he replied “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.” He made this boast at a time when actual economic data were still scarce, a consequence of the government shutdown that stopped or delayed key information about the state of the job market.

Yesterday the report on employment during the month of November finally arrived. And the message of the report on the state of the US economy was clear: A+++++ my A++. While it’s too soon to declare that we’re in a recession, the data are at least pre-recessionary: that is, the numbers are weak enough that we should be seriously worried that a recession is coming. And that’s a state of affairs completely at odds with Trump’s rose-colored — spray-tanned? — picture. . . .

Normally, when a president experiences a troubled economy during his first year he dispatches his flying monkeys minions to declare that it’s all his predecessor’s fault. And some Trump officials, like Scott Bessent, are indeed trying to play the blame game. But this standard political tactic is unlikely to work for this president.

First, the economy that Trump inherited when he took office was in much better shape than today’s economy, with lower unemployment combined with faster job growth, and inflation trending down.

Second, Trump’s radical policy changes – huge (illegal) tariffs, mass deportations, big tax cuts (for the rich), benefit cuts (for the poor and middle class), mass layoffs of federal workers, disinvesting in huge green energy projects and aid to farmers — have been clearly damaging to everything besides crypto and AI. It strains credulity – even for the Trump faithful – to claim that we are still in Joe Biden’s economy.

Third, how can Trump blame Biden for a troubled economy when he won’t admit that we have a troubled economy? It’s more than credible that the source of the public’s falling economic confidence is the two Trump “gaps” — the difference between what he promised and what he has delivered, and the gap between what he says is happening and what everyone can see with their own eyes.

Politics aside, it’s important to understand that the bleak economic news we’re getting is only the beginning. “Populist” leaders like Trump — I don’t like the term, but it has come to mean politicians who have disdain for responsible policy and the rule of law — do long-term economic damage. One comprehensive comparative study found that, on average, such leaders leave GDP 10 percent lower after 15 years than it would otherwise have been. So Trumpism is reducing our future living standards.