I wanted to do this for a while. If you're anything like me, you have many friends and family who support trump. These are good people, you may not agree, but I like Biden’s approach which is to reach across the proverbial isle and work out our differences.
I was in a shop the other day where all the technicians were trump supporters. These I felt were wonderful people I enjoyed working with. While sitting in the lunch room (ie: trump echo chamber) I heard plenty of concerns about the economy, jobs, how best to improve the US. It struck me as odd that the views were so lopsided, as if Obama's administration was an economic disaster. I may not have agreed with the views there but I certainly could appreciate the concerns.
That said, I’d like to see how well trump actually did as president. Feel free to comment or post your own thoughts on what he did well and what he did poorly, but I’d ask that we keep it in perspective. Post as if you were writing to friends and family.
Here’s what struck me on the economy anyway… GNP didn’t seem to markedly improve. Nor did per capita GNP. Looking at these graphs, the lines seem pretty straight right through from 2008/2009 and they're expected to continue through 2024, regardless of who takes power.
GNP: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPC1
Per Capita GNP: https://www.statista.com/statistics/263 ... ed-states/
The US monthly trade deficit seemed to be holding steady at roughly -$40 billion from 2012 to 2016 but then got worse as Trump took office, slowly increasing to -$50 billion through till 2019. So Trump’s economic plan apparently resulted in higher spending on foreign goods and services.
Trade Deficit: https://www.statista.com/chart/20423/mo ... -services/
Unemployment was always something Trump talked about, but in reality it doesn’t seem to have been all that wonderful. Looking at the graph from 2010 to 2016, there was a very nice, steady drop in unemployment throughout. But in 2016, there seemed to have been a hiccup that flattened out this steady drop a bit. Granted, there were fewer unemployed so perhaps that’s a normal consequence of a prosperous economy, but it seems to have been falling quite nicely up till that point.
Unemployment: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-un ... 2020-10-02
Finally, the national debt climbed dramatically with Trump in office. From 2012 to 2016, the deficit increased by $3.5 trillion but from 2016 to 2020, that number increased to $7.4 trillion.
National Debt: https://www.statista.com/statistics/187 ... ince-1990/
How well do you think the economy has been since Trump took over? Has it been better? Worse? Stayed the same? What markers are worth examining?