Part Two of my effort to counter the lie that Trump is some sort of economic success and that he deserves high marks for his handling of the U.S. economy. (Part One is here.)
D. It was Trump’s shockingly bad handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that crashed the U.S. economy
The grim truth has been revealed. Donald Trump KNEW how dangerous COVID-19 was and deliberately concealed this knowledge from the American public. From NPR:
"This is deadly stuff," the president told Woodward in a Feb. 7 conversation, according to the book, which is called Rage. "You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu."
But at the time, Trump was publicly saying that the virus was less of a concern.
On Feb. 10, he told supporters in New Hampshire: "Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away." Later that month, Trump tweeted that the virus was "very much under control in the USA."
And in March, he compared the novel coronavirus to the seasonal flu, saying in a Fox News interview, "We've never closed down the country for the flu."
Moreover, Trump has told a staggering number of lies about the pandemic, faithfully documented by The Atlantic in this appalling article:
All the President’s Lies About the Coronavirus: An unfinished compendium of Trump’s overwhelming dishonesty during a national emergency
It was Trump and his enablers who allowed the pandemic to become a crisis.
It was Trump and his enablers that crashed the U.S. economy.
From Brookings:
Our labor market has recovered somewhat since [April], though progress in fighting the virus has been uneven. Comparing recorded unemployment rates as of July in the U.S. and other wealthy OECD countries, we find that the vastly larger increases in unemployment in the U.S. has declined somewhat relative to other countries, though ours remains much higher. And, comparing virus caseloads/deaths between the U.S. and other wealthy countries indicates much worse outcomes here as well, especially when we compare the most recent trends.
Furthermore, there is good reason to believe that our limited progress in fighting the COVID-19 virus has at least partially caused our continuing high unemployment rate. Had we been as successful in each measure as the other OECD countries, nearly nine million more Americans would be employed and over 100,000 would still be alive. [My emphasis.]
Looking at other economic measures, like real GDP or household income, would not generate as large a contrast between the U.S. and these other countries. But employment is a very meaningful measure – all the more so as relief efforts in the U.S. for unemployed workers have weakened and as more laid off workers become permanently unemployed. And the monthly unemployment rate is the most frequently reported measure of employment across OECD countries.
At least by these measures, the U.S. has experienced the worst of both worlds – very high unemployment and very high virus caseloads and deaths – during the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]
E. The recovery measures have been rife with corruption
Right-wing grifters and other low-lifes have helped themselves to Small Business Administration money. From The Washington Post:
Data released Monday by the Small Business Administration shows that businesses owned by members of Congress and the law practice that represented President Trump were among the hundreds of thousands of firms that received aid from the agency.
As part of its $660 billion small-business relief program, the SBA also handed out loans to private schools catering to elite clientele, firms owned by foreign companies and large chains backed by well-heeled Wall Street firms. Nearly 90,000 companies in the program took the aid without promising on their applications they would rehire workers or create jobs. [My emphasis]…
Among some of those receiving relief were Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s family’s shipping business. [Chao is Mitch McConnell’s wife.] In addition, at least seven members of Congress or their spouses received loans, including lawmakers who were directly involved in shaping regulations and also benefited from a blanket waiver of ethics concerns.
A lot of Paycheck Protection Program money was eaten up by big loans to large businesses. From
Barron’s:
It took only 13 days for loan requests to top $340 billion. That’s impressive.
The problem is, a lot of the money went to larger businesses because of, in part, quirks in the way the law was written. And when large businesses—that trade on stock exchanges and have access to traditional debt and equity capital markets—use the SBA PPP, it drains resources from more needy businesses…
What’s more, 44% of the SBA loans went to 4% of loan requesters. That’s about 67,000 applications taking almost half of the resources. There are about six million small businesses with less than 500 employees in the U.S.
In fact, through 16 April, loans ranging from $350,000 to $5,000,000 took 68.09% of all loan money.
And more evidence that the PPP and the larger CARES program are rife with corruption. From CNBC:
Billionaires, country clubs, private jet companies and Kanye West all received millions in government funding under the Paycheck Protection Program, according to the Small Business Administration.
The PPP loans and grants were part of the $2 trillion CARES Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law this spring. The loans were designed to help small businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic to retain or rehire employees. Yet according to a list of individuals and companies that received loans or grants of more than $150,000, recipients included large companies and billionaires that had access to other sources of capital and have recovered quickly from the pandemic…
Private jet companies, which have rebounded quickly and received hundreds of millions of dollars under the aviation program of the CARES Act, also got millions in PPP funds. Clay Lacy Aviation, which received $27 million in CARES Act funding and prides itself on its celebrity and VIP client base, also received $5 million to $10 million in PPP funds.
Read it all. It’s sickening. A bunch of wealthy business interests plunged in and looted with both hands.
And from ProPublica:
Businesses tied to President Donald Trump’s family and associates stand to receive as much as $21 million in government loans designed to shore up payroll expenses for companies struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to federal data released Monday.
A hydroponic lettuce farm backed by Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., applied for at least $150,000 in Small Business Administration funding. Albert Hazzouri, a dentist frequently spotted at Mar-a-Lago, asked for a similar amount. A hospital run by Maria Ryan, a close associate of Trump lawyer and former mayor Rudy Giuliani, requested more than $5 million. Several companies connected to the president’s son-in-law and White House adviser, Jared Kushner, could get upward of $6 million...
The New York Observer, the news website that [Trump’s son in law Jared] Kushner ran before entering the White House and is still owned by his brother-in-law’s investment firm, was approved for between $350,000 and $1 million, data shows. A company called Princeton Forrestal LLC that is at least 40% owned by Kushner family members, according to a 2018 securities filing, was approved for $1 million to $2 million. Esplanade Livingston LLC, whose address is the same as that of the Kushner Companies real estate development business, was approved for $350,000 to $1 million. The company’s Chief Operating Officer, Peter Febo, responded, “Several of our hotels have applied for federal loans, in accordance with all guidelines, with a vast majority of funds going to furloughed employees.” The loans to Kushner-related companies were first reported by The Daily Beast.
Trump and Kushner NEVER miss a chance to cash in. Slumlord Kushner lined up for bailout money while pressuring the tenants who live in his crappy properties to keep paying rent, no matter what their circumstances are. From The American Prospect:
While Kushner Companies treats its tenants in ungenerous fashion, pressuring them to pay up in a moment of extreme economic duress, the firm is also primed to enjoy the generosity of the federal government’s multitrillion-dollar bailout package. Despite provisions in the bill that prevent members of the Trump family from recouping bailout money directly, hotel owners, including those employing up to 500 people per location, will be eligible for low-interest small-business loans that could eventually be forgiven.
Oh, and Rudy Giuliani got help too—but nobody knows where the money has gone.
And of course the wretched criminal Steve Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary, resisted any attempts to account for who got the money.
These people aren’t just as bad as you think they are—they’re worse.
F. Trump and his minions are pumping liquidity into bonds and equities to artificially prop up those markets.
And one more thing: While the Republicans try to get away with giving the ordinary person as little help as possible, Trump and the Fed have been generous to the nation’s bond market:
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced Thursday that it will spend $1.5 trillion to purchase financial assets in a titanic bid to pump cash into the bond market amid panic on Wall Street.
The New York Fed said in a Thursday statement it will drastically increase the scale of its repurchase (repo) agreements, during which it buys Treasury bonds and other securities from banks and traders with an agreement to sell the product back with interest the following day or soon after.
It will offer $500 billion in repo operations on Thursday followed by $1 trillion in repo agreements Friday “to address highly unusual disruptions in Treasury financing markets associated with the coronavirus outbreak.”
And libertarian magazine Reason takes note of this:
While ultimately the only sure reason why the stock market does what it does is "the people buying and selling stocks make decisions that lead to those prices," one very likely reason those making such decisions seem to think staying in and even buying more is a good idea right now is a concerted government effort to socialize the risk inherent in buying stocks across the economy.
The establishment market-watchers at The Wall Street Journal spelled out this thesis yesterday: "Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep injecting liquidity into the market have helped fuel rebounds each time fallout from the coronavirus pandemic have sparked selloffs," with one analyst insisting that because of Fed policy, "There's a safety net under the bond market and the equity market."
You have to wonder: if and when Trump loses, will he just let everything collapse so the Republicans can blame incoming President Biden?
And then there’s this, from Moody’s Analytics:
Analysis: Biden victory, Democratic sweep would bring biggest boost to economy
"The economic outlook is strongest under the scenario in which Biden and the Democrats sweep Congress and fully adopt their economic agenda," wrote Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, who provided economic analysis for the late Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign, and economist Bernard Yaros.
DONALD TRUMP AND HIS ENABLERS HAVE BEEN A DISASTER FOR THE U.S. ECONOMY, AND WE NEED TO MAKE THAT POINT OVER AND OVER, LOUD AND CLEAR !!
Trump’s jobs numbers as of 1 October, from The Washington Post
Job creation:
- Bill Clinton: 22.745 million jobs
- Ronald Reagan: 16.322 million
- Barack Obama: 12.503 million
- Lyndon B. Johnson: 12.338 million
- Jimmy Carter: 10.117 million
- Harry S. Truman: 9.035 million
- Richard Nixon: 8.911 million
- John F. Kennedy: 3.804 million
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: 3.218 million
- George H.W. Bush: 2.617 million
- Gerald R. Ford: 2.378 million
- George W. Bush: 0.523 million
- Donald Trump: -4.901 million
But these are just raw numbers. Given how the U.S. working-age population has increased dramatically over the last 75 years, let’s look at the records by the percentage gain in jobs during a presidency. Under that measure, here’s how the 13 presidents rank.
- Harry S. Truman: +22 percent
- Lyndon B. Johnson: +21.5 percent
- Bill Clinton: +20.5 percent
- Ronald Reagan: +18 percent
- Richard M. Nixon: +13 percent
- Jimmy Carter: +12.5 percent
- Barack Obama: +9.5 percent
- John F. Kennedy: +7 percent
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: +6.5 percent
- Gerald R. Ford: +3 percent
- George H.W. Bush: +2.5 percent
- George W. Bush: +0.5 percent
- Donald Trump: -3.5 percent
Obviously, Trump’s record may change, as his term has not been completed. Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Trump could claim a gain of 6.6 million jobs, or an increase of 4.5 percent, through February 2020. So, before the pandemic, Trump was on track to end up in the middle of the pack — not a terrific result for someone who constantly claims he created the greatest economy in U.S. history.
THE TRUMP FAILURE ON TRADE:
The combined U.S. goods and services trade deficit increased to $679 billion in 2020, compared to $481 billion in 2016, the year before Trump took office. The trade deficit in goods alone hit $916 billion, a record high and an increase of about 21 percent from 2016.
Trump’s tariffs also imposed higher costs on businesses and consumers. U.S. Customs and Border Protection collected $74.4 billion in tariffs on imported goods during the 2020 fiscal year, which ended on Sep. 30. That was more than double the taxes that CBP collected on imports before Trump took office.
In addition, China, the European Union and a number of other countries retaliated against U.S. exports, including many farm goods. That had such a negative impact on farm income that the Trump administration provided more than $23 billion in aid to farmers for trade-related losses.
“When factoring in retaliation, the costs of this wrongheaded approach is measured in the hundreds of billions,” said Michael Smart, a managing director at Rock Creek Global Advisers, an international economic policy advisory firm.
Oh, and this is useful, too: