Trump the Job-Creator

      Donald Trump is proud to exclaim, at his rallies, in his tweets, etc., that he has created more jobs and grown the economy more than any other president in history.  And of course, his supporters, including notables like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, parrot those lines.

      Let's take a skeptical look at this claim.  Let's start off by stating, unequivocally, that the POTUS does not single-handedly run the economy.  He does not have a green button on his desk to grow the economy or a red button to shrink it.  He only represents, at most, just a third of the Federal Government - and that's just the feds.  State and local governments have input, also.  And that's just here in the U.S., because the actions of foreign governments affect our economy, also.   

     And that's just government.  In actuality, the actions of billions of businessmen, entrepreneurs, innovators, workers, volunteers, and consumers all affect the world economy.  And let's not forget the detrimental effect of hurricanes, earthquakes, and other acts of Mother Nature.

     Furthermore, nothing the government does is instantaneous.  It could take years, decades, or even longer for any governmental action to bear fruit, be it positive or negative.

     So in order to objectively evaluate whether the POTUS, or any other government official, has truly affected the economy, we must look at specific actions and policy, and weigh their pros and cons.

     Let's start with the much-vaulted tax cuts.  The problem here is that spending has not been addressed.   A tax cut without a corresponding spending cut accomplishes nothing, because every dime the government spend must come from someplace.  The government is still spending money, as they say, like a drunken sailor.  The budget signed by Trump was $1.3 Trillion, the largest in history, and of course it is accompanied by the largest deficits in history.  So basically, Trump and his "conservative" buddies are saying that big spending and big deficits grow the economy and create jobs.  Did I miss something?  I thought that was the Democratic-Liberal agenda?

      Deregulation:  yes, Trump has eliminated a few regulations, such as the Paris Agreement on climate change.  (I agree that using regulatory bureaucracy to promote environmentalism is a bad idea, but he needs to apply some statesmanship and explain the alternative, if there is one, for protecting the environment.)  He also rolled back some Obamacare edicts, which are definitely positive moves (although he promised he would totally destroy every last vestige of Obamacare, which has not happened); so, this is but a relatively minor bit of deregulation.  Then there were some banking regulations that were cut, but again we're talking just small potatoes when compared with the gargantuan size of the remaining Federal Regulatory machine.

     I would be much more impressed if Trump had, for example, eliminated some entire government departments, bureaus, or agencies.  How about getting rid of the departments of Energy, Education, and Transportation, which don't do jack squat for creating private-sector jobs?  The alphabet-soup of bureaucracies provide endless possibilities.  Or how about getting rid of the minimum wage law?  Now THAT would save some jobs!

     And let us not forget the trade wars he has started.  As expected, the countries that were previously profitable trading partners retaliated to Trump's tariffs, and jobs were lost.  Nobody wins a trade war.  

     Meanwhile, he has a few Special Interest industries he has propped up with government support.  The biggest one:  coal.  Coal?!?  Of all the Special Interests that the government swamp could foster, how and why did he select coal?!?   And here again, I missed something, as I thought that kind of governmental action was something that Liberal Democrats endorsed? 

     In conclusion, my grade to Trump for free-market job-creating economic policy:  D minus.