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Apologies if I'm misrepresenting your point of view here; it sounds to me like you feel Trump was behind these improvements in the metrics. What changes which

Apologies if I'm misrepresenting your point of view here; it sounds to me like you feel Trump was behind these improvements in the metrics. What changes which he implemented do you feel where behind these improvements? If I posited the idea that he was simply riding a wave of positive economic progress established under the Obama administration, how would you counter that?

souprock 6y ago
1. Regulations were severely cut. Those choke the life out of American business, making it uncompetitive. Maybe you like some of the regulations, but they have costs. Those costs aren't very visible to most people, because most people aren't trying to run a business, but they are huge. 2. Imports from less-regulated low-cost places like China were impacted by tariffs, favoring American workers. Retaliatory tariffs were largely unsuccessful.
- VBprogrammer 6y ago
  Perhaps you are right on regulation but it is not clear that it has moved either of the metrics you mentioned. Looking at unemployment there is no deviation from the established trend during Trump's years in office. https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-unemployment-rate.htm https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-une... Wage growth is more complex. However, this too doesn't seem to be immediately correlated with Trump's policies. > During Obama’s last four years in office the average weekly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers went up 4.9% https://www.factcheck.org/2019/06/are-wages-rising-or-flat/ https://www.factcheck.org/2019/06/are-wages-rising-or-flat/
salawat 6y ago
I would counter that when looking at the causes of behavior in a highly dynamic system, you should look at more proximate causes, and ask you to enumerate the causes established by the Obama Administration you deem responsible for the positive upswing. I'd furthermore question that anyone is very good at accurately assigning proximate causes for people doing what people do, but the more economically minded tend to get upset when you do that as they're rather fond of their equations.
- VBprogrammer 6y ago
  To be fair, I said established under the Obama administration, not by the administration. In reality I think both were riding the wave following the 2008 collapse. As such we could probably point the finger at financial deregulation under George W Bush.
didibus 6y ago
You might be trying to be too smart for politics I'm afraid. Looking at real metrics? Trying to establish cause and effect? Having a good faith retrospective on prior policies? I'm not sure you'll find any of that in political discourse.

souprock 6y ago

1. Regulations were severely cut. Those choke the life out of American business, making it uncompetitive. Maybe you like some of the regulations, but they have costs. Those costs aren't very visible to most people, because most people aren't trying to run a business, but they are huge. 2. Imports from less-regulated low-cost places like China were impacted by tariffs, favoring American workers. Retaliatory tariffs were largely unsuccessful.

VBprogrammer 6y ago
Perhaps you are right on regulation but it is not clear that it has moved either of the metrics you mentioned. Looking at unemployment there is no deviation from the established trend during Trump's years in office. https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-unemployment-rate.htm https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-une... Wage growth is more complex. However, this too doesn't seem to be immediately correlated with Trump's policies. > During Obama’s last four years in office the average weekly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers went up 4.9% https://www.factcheck.org/2019/06/are-wages-rising-or-flat/ https://www.factcheck.org/2019/06/are-wages-rising-or-flat/

salawat 6y ago

I would counter that when looking at the causes of behavior in a highly dynamic system, you should look at more proximate causes, and ask you to enumerate the causes established by the Obama Administration you deem responsible for the positive upswing. I'd furthermore question that anyone is very good at accurately assigning proximate causes for people doing what people do, but the more economically minded tend to get upset when you do that as they're rather fond of their equations.

VBprogrammer 6y ago
To be fair, I said established under the Obama administration, not by the administration. In reality I think both were riding the wave following the 2008 collapse. As such we could probably point the finger at financial deregulation under George W Bush.

didibus 6y ago

You might be trying to be too smart for politics I'm afraid. Looking at real metrics? Trying to establish cause and effect? Having a good faith retrospective on prior policies? I'm not sure you'll find any of that in political discourse.