Presidents, jobs, the economy

[Mac1958]

Since I don't really understand politics, I'm never sure when political rhetoric is supposed to be believed, and when it's nothing more than professional wrestling for political geeks.

Anyway, the fact remains: While Presidents will do this and that relatively minor thing on the economy, and then it's tempered and changed by Congress, macroeconomics does not turn on a dime. There are myriad external forces at work at our economy, from spending to Fed actions, from tax cuts & increases to energy, from overseas Treasury purchases to ebbs and flows in technology.

In short, Presidents get far too much credit (although they'll take it all) and blame (although they'll deny it all) for economics and markets. To wit:

• We've had zillions of new jobs under Biden, but that's primarily because we had lost so many when he showed up. The Fed put the brakes on the QE money train, so the GDP has been middling and there's roughly a 50% chance we'll see a recession within a year as consumers continue to spend like their fucking lives depend on it, and that can't last forever.
• Trump inherited a decent economy and a falling unemployment rate, not to mention trillions in stimulus from the Fed. While he claims "his" economy was "the greatest ever", it was only at 2.3% when COVID, so as usual, he's lying. Overall the economy was fairly good, while being tempered by the massive Fed support, and high government spending (like Biden).
• Obama gets an "Incomplete" on "his" economy, because inheriting the Meltdown forced him to do the only thing he COULD do, and that was stand back and let the Treasury and the Fed do whatever the hell they could to save our sorry asses from our own gluttonous idiocy. His record on the economy is fine, but he wasn't all that involved.
• Dubya left us with the Meltdown, after Greenspan resolutely refused to regulate derivative markets and even the fucking ratings agencies were along for the high fee ride. Was the Meltdown his fault? Not really, since Clinton was the one who opened the barn door when he repealed Glass Steagall. Still, Dubya blankly celebrated his phony economy until it shit the bed.
• Clinton had the massive advantage of the tech explosion, which then became the debt bubble and crashed in the early 2000's. And again, his repeal of Glass Steagall was just the kind of deregulation the financial industry needed to fuck us over big time, and we're STILL feeling the effects of THAT one.

So in other words, this silly game of blaming a President for the good or bad of an economy is silly. This stuff FLOWS, it doesn't start from scratch the day the new President takes office. There is no better example that this inflation shit, which has its roots in the Fed having to save our ass after the Meltdown.

It ain't the President. It's far more complicated than that.

But I'll bet we know that.

 

[johngaltshrugged]

I'm sure when the diaper dude was installed & shut down the Keystone after already promising to end fossil fuels it had nothing to do with the immediate increase in energy prices which drove the prices of goods through the roof.

Nope, no correlation there.

The fact you don't believe policies have any effect on an economy is a display of ignorance

 

[Votto]

Yes, the President has no power over such things as inflation, which is why he passed his inflation bill

 

[Mac1958]

 

[Ralph Norton]

Yes, the President has no power over such things as inflation, which is why he passed his inflation bill

"inflation bill"

 

[TNHarley]

Since I don't really understand politics

That explains all of your inconsistencies.

 

[SweetSue92]

That explains all of your inconsistencies.

Don't let him fool you; politics is his bread-and-butter here. He's either completely deluded or gaslighting again

 

[task0778]

I'm never sure when political rhetoric is supposed to be believed

I don't care who says it, I won't believe it until I see some evidence of truth. Which most of the time is mixed in with a dose of bullshit that at best is exaggerated.

While Presidents will do this and that relatively minor thing on the economy, and then it's tempered and changed by Congress, macroeconomics does not turn on a dime. There are myriad external forces at work at our economy, from spending to Fed actions, from tax cuts & increases to energy, from overseas Treasury purchases to ebbs and flows in technology.

Very true IMHO. My personal opinion is that Congress ought to be held more accountable for their actions (or lack of action) than they are. The President sends a budget to Congress that is basically his party's wishlist, which is just the starting point for the discussions that follow based on politics rather than effectiveness or efficiency. One could argue whether who is more responsible, but it doesn't matter much.

This stuff FLOWS, it doesn't start from scratch the day the new President takes office.

Yeah, but attitudes do change when a new president comes in, unless he's doing pretty much the same thing as the last one. Cuz he's going to use his executive agencies to change the current economic policies and the enforcement thereof. There's a new sheriff in town kinda thing. I think a lot of stuff starts after election day when we find out who won. You can tell if he's going to be business-friendly or not and I think plans and decisions are made early on for when and where to invest. Usually the president-elect is fairly upfront about it, which is good.

There is no better example that this inflation shit, which has its roots in the Fed having to save our ass after the Meltdown.

I do not know for sure how much influence a president has over the Fed, but a lot of people are not happy with them cuz in the minds of many they waited too long to stop the QE program and raise interest rates before inflation got going so much. But IMHO, inflation was also fueled by too much gov't spending under both Trump and Biden, for which both should take their lumps cuz they coulda used their veto power but didn't.

It ain't the President. It's far more complicated than that.

True. The pandemic wasn't Trump's fault, and neither was the supply chain problems Biden's fault. I don't know that either president had the correct information to deal with their problems or the authority to do certain things either. In all too many instances, politics was involved and instead of actually helping to alleviate the problems we had people trying to capitalize politically on what was going on.