Oliver Willis
When Donald Trump became president in January 2017, he was handed an economy in the process of returning to its former place of strength and growth after being decimated by the Great Recession. But a year later, growth is slowing as Trump enacts Republican policies that failed before.
After the last jobs report of 2017 was released, the final tally showed that average monthly job gains for the year were 171,000. That is the lowest number that has been seen since 2010 when it was 88,000.
After Democrats passed the Recovery Act with President Barack Obama, job growth jumped to 174,000 in 2011, climbed as high as 250,000 in 2014, and still remained strong at 187,000 in his last year in office.
The new report also showed that the economy added 148,000 jobs in December, missing the 190,000 estimated by economists and well below the 250,000 jobs predicted by Ivanka Trump in a tweet touting her father’s economic record.
The wildly off the mark prediction from the first daughter echoes Trump’s propagandistic claims that “jobs are kicking in.”
What is happening? Republicans pushed through a tax bill that targets the super-rich for tax cuts, while raising taxes on the middle class. The legislation is intensely unpopular as Americans reject the fundamental unfairness of the bill drafted in private by Republicans and lobbyists. But part of that rejection is no doubt based on fears that this same set of ideas already led to disaster.
When tax cuts for the wealthy were pushed by George W. Bush and his fellow Republicans in the first years of his presidency, they were promoted as engines of economic growth. The promise was that with more money in their pockets, the wealthy would spend on the economy, promoting hiring among the middle and lower classes.
Instead, the legislation created massive deficits, accelerated income inequality, and — combined with lax oversight of the financial industry, specifically mortgages — helped to create the perfect storm of the Great Recession.
The Obama-led stimulus helped to create jobs and right America’s economy, which is relied upon by the world. The world benefitted from American leadership, and under Trump, the likelihood of American suffering triggering global strife is extremely high.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rang the alarm in a statement on the jobs report, noting that “December’s lackluster jobs report shows that Americans continue to suffer under Republicans’ corporate and special interest agenda.”
She added, “Republicans in Washington squandered every opportunity to help middle class families in 2017. Instead, they decided to stack the deck further for the privileged, the powerful and special interests against the middle class.”
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee, remarked in a statement, “Despite inheriting a strong and resilient economy, the president and Republicans in Congress decided to do absolutely nothing to improve the lives of working Americans in 2017.”
Trump’s policy is to deregulate, which eliminates oversight and allows business to run wild. Despite his rhetoric about “draining the swamp,” the denizens of the swamp built his economic policy and stand to benefit as the globe suffers.
Layoffs in 2017 hit 255,814, showing that Trump’s wild claims about working to bring back jobs has just been the emptiest of rhetoric. Trump has pushed against allowing DREAMers to have access to jobs, and has instead made their immigration status hang in the air as an unresolved question. Such moves affect jobs, hiring, and plans to hire more workers.
Even infrastructure, the one area where Democrats have indicated they would be open to working with Trump, has been ignored and neglected by his administration. He has done more to complain about NFL protests than the nation’s crumbling buildings.
Before the Republican tax bill was enacted, the jobs report showed warning signs about the economy. The Obama Recovery can be seen in the previous strength of the job market, along with the record-breaking stock markets.
But Trump’s obsession with repealing everything associated with Obama clearly extends to working economic policies, and as a result, millions are being lined up to suffer.
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