I keep on hearing people like House Speaker Mike Johnson saying how growth under Trump was the fastest. Well, just comparing against the last three and a half years, I wonder how this can be true. Using the latest available BEA data:
Figure 1: GDP relative to 2021Q1 (blue), relative to 2017Q1 (tan), GDPNow as of 10/18 (light blue square), quarters into respective administrations, all in Ch.2017$. Source: BEA 2024Q2 3rd release/annual update, Atlanta Fed, and author’s calculations.
Someone will ask about per capita terms. If one thinks about how population growth changed during the Trump administration (forced separations of migrant families and all that stuff), you might think you know the answer, but I’ll show you the per capita series:
Figure 2: GDP per capita relative to 2021Q1 (blue), relative to 2017Q1 (tan), per capita GDPNow as of 10/18 (light blue square), quarters into respective administrations, all in Ch.2017$ per person. Note: Assumed growth rate of population in Q3 same as growth rate in Q2. Source: BEA 2024Q2 3rd release/annual update, Atlanta Fed, and author’s calculations.
The race was tighter before the annual update. Of course, there were two consecutive quarters of negative growth in 2022. That is no longer true (contra Heritage Foundation’s EJ Antoni).
Chinny,
you are the enemy within so lookout if the obese one winms
Not Trampis: Yes. Thanks. Me, and anybody *born in America of immigrants* (unless their last name is Trump, because, well, she was from a “good country”, even if not Norway).
Trump makes a big deal about illegal immigrants coming to America for jobs yet his own wife came to America on a tourist visa and worked illegally. She eventually got a green card and became a naturalized citizen, but would have had to lie about her previous immigration violations which likely would have made her ineligible.
Elon too, for that matter.
Mike Johnson sure does lie a lot for a person who claims to be a Christian.
Watching House Speaker Mike Johnson try to explain how Trump’s speech about a dead golfer’s genitalia was really about economic policy during Jake Tapper interview bears witness to a GOP composed of lies and gaslighting and B.S. In same interview – Johnson said Trump’s comments about the “enemy within” was really about “marauding gangs of dangerous…violent people” (Johnson agrees that if you peacefully protest the GOP dictatorship – you will be prosecuted by Trump state police.) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jake-tapper-hits-mike-johnson-with-blunt-reality-check-on-trumps-enemy-within-comment/ar-AA1sCJp2
Hey NY Times – what’s the “both sides” story here? Trump is a 78-year-old convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, proven business fraudster, violator of the Logan Act, and dangerously mentally and physically unfit and we have substantial evidence that Trump attempted a criminal takeover of our democracy – while Harris is a career District Attorney, AG of California, former Senator, and current VP – she knows the law and legislation and is an inspiring speaker and serious and firm and considered in decision making and will make a great Commander-in-Chief and President and Harris has a clear vision to create an opportunity economy for everyone in the U.S.
Hey Wisconsinites! Early absentee voting has started – you can check your registration and what’s on your ballot here: https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/ The Madison City Clerk has many In-Person Absentee Locations – it is convenient and secure – https://www.cityofmadison.com/clerk/elections-voting/voting/vote-absentee/in-person-absentee-voting-hours-and-locations (FYI – I was a poll worker during pandemic – absentee ballots are kept in secure location and then sent to your ward on election day – a volunteer checks if you are registered in most recent registration book and then votes for you – all of this is witnessed by another volunteer and the 30 poll workers and several political party poll witnesses – the volunteer has a sign and has to announce they are voting absentee). Also in Wisconsin – your employer has to give you time off to go and vote.
Watching House Speaker Mike Johnson try to explain how Trump’s speech about a dead golfer’s XXXXXXX.
Now that you brought this up let me note my first two reactions. I immediately thought of cheating Tiger Woods wondering how he measured up. OK that’s crude too.
I also looked up Arnie’s personal life and it seems he was happily married to the same woman for 45 years. So is Trump saying she was one happy wife? As opposed to Trump’s wives I guess. Just ask Stormy Daniels!
i don’t understand how lying has simply been normalized with regard to trump and his supporters. nothing coming out of the republican echo chamber is true anymore, and yet that does not seem to bother trump and his supporters one bit. they want to post the 10 commandments everywhere, but apparently are unable to read what it actually says. trump has violated over half of them.
trump has done more to damage the moral fabric of our nation than anything else i have encountered in my lifetime.
“i don’t understand how lying has simply been normalized with regard to trump and his supporters”
While it is hard to understand, Kudlow and Moore have been lying for over 20 years.
Didn’t start with Trump. Didn’t start anywhere, with anyone in particular. But it has become the political style of the right. The KKK. Father Coughlin. McCarthy. Self-financing tax cuts. The Moral Majority. Faux news, Brightbart, Heritage, AEI, little green footballs. All in the business of normalizing lies. Trump is the natural result.
This does date back a long way. Take Richard Nixon. Even as early as the 1952 Presidential campaign, Adlai Stevenson noted that
Nixon “was the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, and then mount the stump and make a speech for tree conservation”
Off topic – Moldova votes to join the EU:
https://apnews.com/article/moldova-elections-eu-referendum-russia-325cb2c13beb1d76565a6e2aadef971a
The vote was narrowly in favor of EU membership. Russia put a great deal of effort and money into getting Moldovans to vote against membership. Early in Russia’s war against Ukraine, it became evident that Moldova is next on Russia’s hit list. Moving toward democratic Europe is partly an effort to get out from under Russia’s thumb – which is reason for Russia to invade – but also an effort to gain protection. The EU ain’t NATO, but still… Unemployment is high and the population declining – apart from a recent influx of Ukrainian refugees – so simple economics is a strong reason to join the EU.
Transnistria will be the excuse if Russia invades. Transnistria is full of both ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians.