Here's the problem -as I see it

Cal wrote:

But what are those policies, Cal?

I paid very close attention to Trump during the campaign, and he never spelled them out for anyone. And I would ask his supporters what they were, and they couldn’t answer, other than to say Make America Great Again.

If he does get credit for the economy, it will likely only be among the people who would vote for him anyway, and he’ll get it from them without ever revealing exactly what he’s done to “earn” that credit.

I have no interest in defending Trump. But what I would like to do is have an accurate picture of the conditions in our country.

How would you explain the fact that an important industry saw a small retraction in 8 of the 12 months before Trump AND then reversed course and saw significant growth in 12 of the 13 months after Trump took office?

Is that just a coincidence? Maybe, the economy does seem a bit mercurial to me.

But i know–and I think you do too–what Republicans will say.

And they have a damn good argument too.

Here’s a link to an interview from the time of the discussions about the tax cuts that underscores the arguments that Republicans will be making in the mid-terms if the trends in job growth continue.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace/11162017

I don’t know about that one change. But, again, overall, Trump has fewer new jobs per month than Obama averaged in his last six years, and income gains for workers are lower under Trump, too.

What’s more important? The overall numbers, or one small sector?

Anyway, I personally don’t think the GOP has any good arguments regarding the economy. They always do very stupid things when they gain control. No credible economist, for instance, thought it was a good idea to slash taxes in the middle of one of the longest recoveries on record, when unemployment was already at 4%, corporations were already sitting on trillions, the debt was already at 20 trillion and counting.

And, remember when the GOP bashed Obama endlessly for deficits? Suddenly, since they’re in power again, deficits don’t matter. They meant the end of the world while Obama and the Dems ran things. Now they’re apparently meaningless.

The smart thing to do would have been to actually raise taxes on the rich — it would have been a Nixon goes to China moment — balance the budget while times are good and start to pay down the debt.

America is pretty much the only OECD country not to try to some form of debt reduction while the economy is relatively good.

Also, Cal, and this is where Republicans benefit from silencing environmental studies, which they recently did with regard to water safety. They actually crushed the report that was due to tell us that the entire country was in danger of unsafe drinking water, not just places like Flint.

Trump and the GOP have slashed regulations that protect the environment for all of us. They’ve made it easier for corporations to dump toxic sludge into our lakes, streams and rivers, and that all ends up in the oceans. They’ve made it easier for coal companies to dump toxic shit in mountain regions, which will make people living there sick. They’ve rolled back hundreds of protections like that, and at the workplace, placing us all at risk.

Tragically, we tend not to track things like the above in the way we track job numbers, GDP, wage growth, etc. etc. But they should be included in the “costs” of legislation. They actually increase our risk of death, sickness and shorten our lives, not to mention wildlife.

Trump and the GOP also sold off more than two million acres of protected wilderness which Obama had saved. It’s now in the hands of Big Oil and Big Coal. Aside from the added risk to human and other life, this is stripping us of our national heritage. These are also “costs” that should be factored in when legislation is done.

They aren’t. Trump and the GOP never mentions them.

In short, if you want an accurate picture of things, you’re not going to get it from Trump or the GOP. And, remember, he won in part by scaring his base to death about the supposed hell hole America had become. In reality, he hasn’t improved it at all. Same country. It was never in flames the way Trump described it. It wasn’t being overridden by hordes of brown people — net border crossings were waay down. It wasn’t in the midst of a Great Depression, though a large number of people were struggling. They still are, btw, under Trump, too. None of that has changed according to that study I posted from the United Way.

I don’t trust either of the major parties to tell us the truth. But, IMO, the GOP is exponentially worse when it comes to serial lies, distortions, and the silencing of public information. We deserve better.

I assume trump has increased the number of manufacturing jobs. I assume that because if i were Trump I’d move heaven and hell to do THAT. Thats part of his base, but its the part that could go either way. A lot of those folks voted for Obama and they could easily switch sides.

When Trump got elected i assumed he’d increase the manufacturing jobs one way or another. Its the one thing he HAD to do. So, i agree with Cal that he did that and that his BASE will give him credit for that.

I imagine the Dems will run another corporate-dem and Trumps base will hold up and it will be another close election that could go either way.

Btw, if folks dont watch Fox news clips they are missing out on how good the Reps are at spinning things. Fox news is brilliant. Brilliantly evil.

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