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Jump to: 2016; 2017; 2018; 2019;
-- 2015 --
June 16: Trump On the economy: “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/donald-trump-2016-announcement-10-best-lines-119066
November 1: Some of the country's most prominent economists have signed a letter warning that Donald Trump is a "dangerous, destructive" choice for president and urging voters to choose someone else.
The letter, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, was signed by 370 economists, including eight Nobel Prize winners. ... [they say] he has made repeated statements aimed at misleading the public about jobs and growth ... "His statements reveal a deep ignorance of economics and an inability to listen to credible experts. He repeats fake and misleading economic statistics, and pushes fallacies about the [value-added tax] and trade competitiveness. He promotes magical thinking and conspiracy theories over sober assessments of feasible economic policy options." [The signers of the letter] include Nobel winners such as Angus Deaton of Princeton, Oliver Hart and Eric Maskin of Harvard and Kenneth J. Arrow of Stanford, as well as many other prominent academics.
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/01/500264332/economists-warn-trump-promotes-magical-thinking-and-conspiracy-theories
-- 2016 --
May 18: Donald Trump's Economic Plans Would Destroy the U.S. Economy ... Make America have a recession again.
“I’ve borrowed knowing that you can pay back with discounts,” [Trump] told CNBC. “I would borrow knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/05/donald-trumps-economy/481743/
November 4: U.S. Economy In Record 73-Month Streak Of Job Growth ... The unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in October as the economy added 161,000 jobs.
U.S. employers maintained a strong pace of hiring in October and boosted wages for workers, which could effectively seal the case for a December interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/october-jobs-report_us_581c8346e4b0aac624839402
-- 2017 --
January 9: Stop Saying Trump’s Win Had Nothing To Do With Economics
The debate has continued in the weeks since Trump’s win, and lately the anxiety skeptics seem to be gaining the upper hand. Numerous writers, including some on this website, have noted that obvious measures of economic struggle such as poverty and unemployment were poor predictors of Trump support; indeed, exit polls show that Hillary Clinton won handily among poorer Americans. And whereas in 2012 Mitt Romney won among voters who considered the economy their top issue, Trump lost such voters. Measures of racism and sexism, and markers of social status such as a college degree, did a much better job predicting whom voters would support.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/stop-saying-trumps-win-had-nothing-to-do-with-economics/
February 17: ... President Donald Trump told reporters he "inherited a mess" from the Obama administration. ... the numbers paint a different picture. Trump has inherited one of the best economies in decades.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/17/watch-trump-vs-obama-heres-who-inherited-the-better-economy.html
March 2: The Dow has set 32 record highs since the election. This week, it crossed 21,000, tying a record for the shortest period between 1,000-point milestones.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/02/investing/trump-rally-dow-21000/index.html?iid=EL
March 23: Canada's Largest School District Stops New Trips to U.S. Over President Trump's Travel Ban
http://time.com/4711938/toronto-school-district-donald-trump-travel-ban/
April 3: Trump’s Assault on Immigrants Will Seriously Damage the Economy
The key sectors in which we can expect growth are dependent on immigrant labor.
https://www.thenation.com/article/trumps-assault-on-immigrants-will-seriously-damage-the-economy/
April 13: Trump changes more and more positions as his staff tries to explain why
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/13/donald-trump-flip-slops-ex-im-bank/100412286/
April 28: American companies have continued to ship jobs overseas on an almost daily basis during President Trump's first 100 days in office.
The government doesn't publish how many jobs are moved overseas every month. But a CNNMoney analysis of hundreds of federal filings show that Trump has so far not been able to stop the steady churn of work moving to foreign countries. ... In the first 100 days of the Trump administration, more than 270 separate companies applied for TAA benefits on behalf of more than 10,000 workers whose jobs are moving to another country.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/28/news/economy/foreign-job-losses-trump-100-days/index.html
April 28: The U.S. economy grew at just a 0.7 percent annual rate in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest report on the gross domestic product from the Commerce Department. That's below market expectations and indicates the economy grew at the slowest pace in three years.
This "advance" estimate showed the U.S. economy with its slowest growth since the first quarter of 2014. The GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2016 was 2.1 percent ... [and] 2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/28/526012804/gdp-grew-just-0-7-percent-in-first-quarter-of-2017?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20170428&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews
June 7: Trump's rhetoric and policy gives foreign travelers the sense that America is closing its doors, experts say. That's a big problem, since foreign visitors spend hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. each year. ... The Global Business Travel Association estimates that the U.S. will lose $1.3 billion in travel-related expenditures in 2017, taking hotels, food, rental cars and shopping into account. The organization thinks more than 4,200 jobs could be lost as a result.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/07/news/economy/trump-travel-ban-paris-global-tourism/index.html?iid=ob_article_organicsidebar_expansion
June 23: Store closings have tripled so far this year
There have been 5,300 store closing announcements through June 20, making it the second worst year on record at the six-month mark. The worst year ever for store closings was 2008 during the Great Recession when Credit Suisse counted 6,163 closings. But 2017 is poised to easily surpass that.
http://myfox8.com/2017/06/23/store-closings-have-tripled-so-far-this-year/
July 6: Microsoft is laying off thousands of employees in a shake-up aimed at selling more subscriptions to software applications that can be used on any internet-connected device. Most of the people losing their jobs work in sales and are located outside the U.S.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/microsoft-laying-off-thousands-workers-sales-shakeup-48479647
July 18: The good, the bad and the ugly of Trump’s economy
Tax, growth, infrastructure — where the president’s ambitions stand after six months
https://www.ft.com/content/95cec196-6b17-11e7-bfeb-33fe0c5b7eaa
July 28: Trump's election and promises of massive tax cuts and infrastructure spending lifted expectations on Wall Street and among economists of faster growth. But Trump hasn't been able to get his economic agenda through Congress, so those expectations have been dialed back.
Last week, the International Monetary Fund lowered its U.S. growth forecast for this year and next because of "uncertainty" over the timing and size of Trump's policies. And the U.S. dollar, which rallied after the election, has retreated sharply in recent months.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/28/news/economy/gdp-second-quarter-trump-economy/index.html
July 28: The U.S. economy gathered momentum during the first full quarter with President Trump in charge.
Economic growth accelerated to an annual rate of 2.6% from April through June, the government said Friday. That was about what economists had expected.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/28/news/economy/gdp-second-quarter-trump-economy/index.html
August 1: President Trump wrongly described the estimated 2.6% growth in the nation’s gross domestic product for the second quarter as “a number that nobody thought they’d see for a long period of time.”
In fact, real GDP growth was higher than 2.6% in eight of the last 18 quarters, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That includes a 2.9% increase in the third quarter of 2016, which the Trump campaign dismissed at the time as “modest.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/01/fact-check-donald-trumps-puffery-gdp-growth/529064001/
August 1: ... it is a mistake to “read too much into any one quarter’s GDP data.”
As Politico noted, “In recent years, the U.S. economy has often started off slowly, improved in the middle of the year, only to sag again toward the end. … It grew at 5 percent in the third quarter of 2014 before sputtering out.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/01/fact-check-donald-trumps-puffery-gdp-growth/529064001/
August 20: The Trump Economy Is a Gilded Mediocrity
American politics may be becoming a heavy-handed satire with a spy-movie subplot and life-or-death stakes. The president may be on the cusp of tweeting us into a nuclear war. But when it comes to the economy, Trump’s detractors often seem less outraged by present conditions than by the mogul’s attempts to claim credit for them. Alas, like so many other entities branded by our president, the Trump economy is far less than meets the eye.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/08/the-trump-economy-is-a-gilded-mediocrity.html
September 20: Why Has the US Dollar Been Consistently Falling Throughout 2017?
The US dollar is the world’s reserve currency, the representation of US economic might on the global stage and the de facto currency unit for the overwhelming majority of financial assets. Throughout 2017, however, the greenback has taken a long and sustained nosedive to hit multi-year lows. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the value of the dollar against a weighted basket of currencies belonging to six of the United States’ biggest foreign trade partners—the euro, yen, pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc—recently slipped to its lowest level in more than two years.
https://internationalbanker.com/brokerage/us-dollar-consistently-falling-throughout-2017/
October 10: Donald Trump applies art of exaggeration to handling of US economy ...
The president boasted of using inflated figures in his business dealings and seems bent on using similar tactics to justify protectionism despite IMF warnings
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/10/donald-trump-economy-exaggeration-protectionism
October 12: Donald Trump Tries to Explain How the Economy Works, Fails
https://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-economy-deficit
October 13: Trump needs a reminder that the stock market isn’t the economy
https://qz.com/1099465/trump-needs-a-reminder-that-the-stock-market-isnt-the-economy/
October 13: Trump Muddles Economic Indicators
In a news interview and a speech in Pennsylvania, President Donald Trump misleadingly suggested that rising stock value could reduce the national debt. One budget expert told us that notion was “just silly.”
In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, Trump noted that the country’s debt rose by $10 trillion under President Barack Obama and that since he took office, stock values have increased by $5.2 trillion. So, he said, “maybe in a sense we’re reducing debt.”
Total public debt outstanding [under Obama] rose from $10.6 trillion to $19.9 trillion, an increase of $9.3 trillion. That includes all the money that the government owes to itself, including the Social Security trust funds. Under Obama, the federal debt held by the public grew from $6.3 trillion to $14.4 trillion, an $8.1 trillion increase, or a little more than 128 percent over Obama’s eight years.
The debt continues to rise under Trump. The debt held by the public is now at $14.7 trillion, and the total debt is at $20.4 trillion.
https://www.factcheck.org/2017/10/trump-muddles-economic-indicators/
November 4: [While on his first Asian trip], Donald Trump has publicly pleaded with Saudi Arabia to sell shares in its national oil company, Aramco, on the New York Stock Exchange.
"Would very much appreciate Saudi Arabia doing their IPO of Aramco with the New York Stock Exchange," the US President tweeted. "Important to the United States!"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-saudi-arabia-aramco-ipo-twitter-oil-new-york-stock-exchange-national-company-a8037411.html
November 6: [On his first trip to Asia, while in Japan] President Trump said mental health, not guns, is to blame for the church shooting massacre that left at least 26 people dead [by a man carrying a semi-automatic weapon] in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, calling the assailant a "very deranged individual."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-calls-texas-church-shooting-act-evil/story?id=50950818
November 6: When asked whether tighter gun-control laws could help prevent such shootings, Trump said the attack "isn't a guns situation" and that "mental health is your problem here." He said the initial investigation indicates the killer was a "very deranged individual." [There is no indication that the shooter had been given a recent psychological evaluation, nor if Trump might have a hidden psychology background with which to make accurate judgment]
Fewer people have been shot to death in Japan in the past five years than were killed in the Texas shooting on Sunday ...
http://theweek.com/speedreads/735563/trump-blames-church-massacre-mental-health-problems
December 15: Poverty in US set to increase due to Donald Trump's policies, says UN official
Already dismal poverty rates in the US are set to worsen under President Donald Trump, a top UN official has said. Currently, one in eight people in the US lives in poverty.
https://www.dw.com/en/poverty-in-us-set-to-increase-due-to-donald-trumps-policies-says-un-official/a-41819961
December 30: Greatest false predictions of 2017 ... The left must face facts and admit they’re wrong about Trump and the economy
Since the day Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, the Dow Jones industrial average has risen by some 35 percent, making the last 14 months one of the greatest bull market runs in history. Some $6 trillion of wealth has been created for Americans — which is very good news for the 55 million Americans with 401k plans, the 25 million or so who have IRAs, and another 20 million with company pension plans and employee stock ownership plans.
The left was certain that exactly the opposite would happen with a Trump presidency. [Of course, this presidency is young yet]
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/31/trump-economy-false-predictions-left/
-- 2018 --
Undated 2018: Economic policy of Donald Trump
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_policy_of_Donald_Trump
January 11: Economists Credit Trump as Tailwind for U.S. Growth, Hiring and Stocks
Forecasters surveyed by The Wall Street Journal give administration’s first year generally positive marks
https://www.wsj.com/articles/economists-credit-trump-as-tailwind-for-u-s-growth-hiring-and-stocks-1515682893
January 18: Obama Gets More Credit Than Trump for the Improved Economy
http://news.gallup.com/poll/225782/obama-gets-credit-trump-improved-economy.aspx
January 18: Trump's Economic Scorecard: One Year Since Inauguration
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2018/01/18/trumps-economic-scorecard-one-year-post-inauguration/#75bb91d26b67
January 19: Trump's economic score: After tax cuts, not too much
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-economy-after-one-year-tax-cuts-trade/
January 20: Donald Trump and the US economy in six charts
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42748243
January 22: Trump's First Year Echoes Obama's Record on the Economy
The two presidents are in a dead heat in terms of gross domestic product and real consumer spending.
The first year of Donald Trump's presidency was marked by some of the worst political turbulence in modern U.S. history. But when it comes to the economy and markets, the surprise is how little change, good or bad, has occurred.
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-22/trump-s-first-year-echoes-obama-s-record-on-the-economy
January 22: The United Nations World Tourism Organization announced last week that Spain overtook the United States as the second-most visited destination in the world (France remains number one) in 2017.
The U.S. welcomed 72.9 million foreign visitors last year — down about four percent from the previous year’s 75.9 million.
Some have dubbed the decline in foreign tourism the “Trump Slump,” citing the administration’s January 2017 ban against travelers from seven predominantly-Muslim countries. But the number actually began decreasing back in 2016. (A record was set in 2015 when the United States welcomed 77.5 million foreign visitors.)
Chris Thompson, the president and CEO of Brand USA, the destination marketing organization for the United States, believes there are other, more complicated contributions to the decline in tourism.
https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/travel-trends/trump-tourism-to-us-is-down
January 23: Tourism to U.S. under Trump is down, costing $4.6B and 40,000 jobs
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/tourism-u-s-down-trump-took-office-costing-4-6-n840326
January 24: Can the Trump Economy Trump Trump?
The president’s economic policies are showing marked success, but he may not benefit politically unless he learns how to get out of his own way.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/455707/donald-trump-economic-boom-will-republicans-benefit-politically
January 29: Assessing the Trump Economy
Economic growth isn't quite where Trump wants it, but 2017 showed plenty of progress.
https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2018-01-29/ask-an-economist-how-did-the-economy-do-in-trumps-first-year
January 30: State of the Trump economy: It's complicated
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/01/30/trump-economy-complicated-editorials-debates/1079315001/
January 30: The truth about the Trump economy, explained
A massive change in perceptions masks continuity with the Obama years.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/30/16945146/trump-economic-record
February 2: Two areas where Trump’s economy is better than Obama’s
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/02/02/two-areas-where-trumps-economy-is-better-than-obamas/?utm_term=.e65c8eb08a93
February 5: Fox News cuts away from Trump economic speech to cover historic stock market drop ... When reality intervenes.
During his State of the Union speech last Tuesday night, President Trump bragged about how under his stewardship, the stock market “smashed one record after another, gaining $8 trillion in value.”
... Trump said that the tax cut bill “set off a tidal wave of good news that continues to grow every single day.” But his message was contradicted by chyrons detailing the Dow’s plunge.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-stock-market-tank-0bd097090238/
February 6: Wall Street’s wild swing is a test of Trump’s economic plan
There are plenty of reasons for the stock market’s recent volatility: the possibility of higher inflation, global markets tanking, a sudden spike in interest rates.
But if you talk to enough of the folks making the markets so volatile (sophisticated investors and traders), you’ll see another answer pop up regularly: It’s getting to be “put up or shut up” time for the Trump economy.
https://nypost.com/2018/02/06/wall-streets-wild-swing-is-a-test-of-trumps-economic-plan/
February 12: Trump's economic policy is rooted in debt
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/12/trumps-economic-policy-is-rooted-in-debt.html
February 12: As Trump gambles with more economic stimulus, the Fed is poised to counter inflation
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-budget-economy-analysis/as-trump-gambles-with-more-economic-stimulus-the-fed-is-poised-to-counter-inflation-idUSKBN1FW2C8
February 12: Distractions have derailed Team Trump’s economic message
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/distractions-have-derailed-team-trump-s-economic-message-n847086
February 12: Trump’s regulatory rollback for the U.S. economy is a dud — so far ... Republican rule-killing not showing big benefits, but it’s still early
President Trump has eliminated or rolled back large chunks of regulation with businesses cheering the White House on, but it’s hard to find evidence it’s been a big help to the economy after one year.
So say the researchers at Goldman Sachs. Economists at the Wall Street powerhouse looked for proof of deregulatory benefits and said the evidence so far is thin.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-regulatory-rollback-for-the-us-economy-is-a-dud-so-far-2018-02-12
February 13: Democratic super PAC warns Trump's approval is rising
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/democratic-super-pac-warns-trumps-approval-is-rising/article/2648971
February 14: Republicans' debt and Trump's spending endanger economy
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/tomlinson/article/Republican-s-debt-and-Trump-s-spending-endanger-12610187.php
February 14: Goldman Sachs CEO gives Trump credit for the economy, says it's better than if Hillary Clinton won
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-economy-growth-goldman-sachs-2018-2
February 14: Inflation rose faster than expected in January
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/14/news/economy/us-inflation/index.html
February 14: Donald Trump's Dangerous Game
Despite a booming economy, U.S. President Donald Trump is calling for a weaker dollar, a move that threatens to jeopardize Europe's fragile economic upswing. There's very little the European Central Bank can do to fight back.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/currency-war-trump-s-games-pose-threat-to-european-economy-a-1193057.html
March 9: U.S. economy gained 313,000 jobs last month, surpassing expectations
Monthly data released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that for the fifth straight month, unemployment held at a steady rate of 4.1 percent, still the lowest level in 17 years.
The only black cloud was wage growth, which was up just 0.1 percent.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/economy-added-more-jobs-last-month-any-time-1983-n855136
March 20: President Trump cheered last week that the "raging" economy is at an "all-time high," mirroring optimism on Wall Street and Corporate America about a stellar year for growth.
Unfortunately, predictions for first-quarter economic growth have plunged in recent weeks, signaling 2018 may be off to a "meh" start.
"We're seeing a lot of positive fervor from consumers and businesses, but that hasn't translated into action yet," said Kristina Hooper, Invesco's global market strategist.
Even though consumer confidence hit a 17-year high last month, retail sales unexpectedly declined between January and February. It was the third-straight monthly drop, a disappointing trend given that consumer spending drives two-thirds of the economy.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/20/news/economy/economy-gdp-first-quarter/index.html
April 11: Claims of Donald Trump Scaring Away International Visitors Were Based on Faulty Data
Hotels, restaurants and other businesses that depend on foreign travel to the U.S. have been complaining that President Donald Trump’s policies and rhetoric have scared away international visitors since he took office last year.
Now it appears that those claims are based on faulty data that underrepresented the number of arrivals from overseas, and the federal agency that compiles the data has said it will stop publishing new statistics until it can solve the problem. The issue derives from customs records that incorrectly categorized non-citizens traveling on visas as U.S. residents, according to an April 6 press release from the International Trade Administration’s National Travel and Tourism Office.
http://fortune.com/2018/04/11/donald-trump-travel-tourism/
May 5: How much will the economy matter to voters in November?
Most analysts are unperturbed by the fact that the economy seems to have grown at a rate of only 2.3 percent in the first quarter, below both the 2.9 percent achieved in the final quarter of last year, and the 3 percent that is Trump’s target (which in moments of ebullience is 4 percent, and has been as high as 6 percent). The 2.3 percent is a preliminary estimate, likely to be revised, and the effects of the tax cut and Trump’s deregulatory policies are only now starting to make themselves felt.
... there is no threat that the central bank will rain on the president’s parade.
The economy added 164,000 jobs in April, bringing the average in the past three months to 208,000. The unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent, the lowest since December 2000, in part due to exits from the work force, largely by retirees.
https://www.weeklystandard.com/irwin-stelzer/trumps-economy-in-a-time-of-scandal
May 16: Trump’s Numbers ... Statistical measures of the president's term to date.
... opinions will differ on how much credit or blame a president deserves for things that happen during his time in office. And we urge readers to be aware that some changes that have happened already won’t show up in statistics until later updates. FBI crime figures for all of last year aren’t due until September, for example. Poverty and household income figures for 2017 won’t be available until later this year.
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/01/trumps-numbers/
May 31: Sears Holdings Corp., which controls Sears and Kmart, says it has "identified approximately 100 non-profitable stores, 72 of which will begin store closing sales in the near future," in the latest sign of the retailer's struggles to stay afloat.
The figure represents about 8 percent of Sears' remaining stores. Sears Holdings announced the closures in its quarterly results released on Thursday, in which it reported total revenues of approximately $2.9 billion — down from $4.2 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/31/615741603/sears-will-close-72-more-stores-after-quarterly-drop-in-sales-of-nearly-12-perce
May 31: Immigrants helped found more than half of the U.S.'s 87 startup companies valued at more than a billion dollars in 2016, according to a study by the National Foundation for American Policy, with the 11 biggest of those companies employing more than 17,000 people.
The Trump administration recently proposed to cancel an Obama-era visa aimed at helping foreign entrepreneurs start new businesses in the U.S. The president and other advocates for cutting immigration levels argue that immigrants are taking jobs from U.S. workers, but in many instances, immigrants not only contribute to the U.S. economy, but create more jobs for Americans.
https://www.axios.com/immigrant-founders-billion-dollar-companies-15277776-206bb073-2f74-4c14-94c9-841e4d12b1ed.html
June 5: Is Trump right that it’s the "best economy & jobs EVER"?
American businesses are hiring, consumer confidence is high and economic growth is accelerating. But is it really the "best economy & jobs EVER," as President Donald Trump tweeted on Monday morning?
That's a stretch.
Unemployment isn't at an all-time low
GDP growth isn't at an all-time high
Wage growth is slower now than in the past
The labor force participation rate remains low
Fewer men are working than in other boom periods
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-economy-jobs-best-ever-tweet-today-fact-check-2018-06-04/
June 7: Trump Says the U.S. Economy Is the ‘Greatest’ Ever. It’s Not
Indeed, the economy has made major progress since the Great Recession ended in 2009, and that improvement has continued -- and even strengthened by some metrics -- during Trump’s 16 months in office. Jobless rates among minorities are at or near record lows, openings are at an all-time high and there are more positions available than there are unemployed.
Yet wage growth is moderate, productivity remains tepid and expansion has averaged 2.4 percent on a year-over-year basis since Trump took office, well below the 4.4 percent of the 1950s and 1960s.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-07/sorry-mr-president-but-best-economy-was-probably-eisenhower-s
June 8: Trump Economy Has Powered Consumer Spending, But Politics Affect Where People Shop
For retailers, one of the more actionable findings in a book full of them by Paco Underhill, Why We Buy: the Science of Shopping, is that after people enter a store, they invariably turn right to start their shopping trip. That makes the space to the right side of the door prime real estate for any retailer.
Now a new study from Walker Sands Communications suggests that how shoppers lean politically, whether to the right or the left, determines whether they will even enter the store and make that predictable right turn.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2018/06/08/trump-economy-has-powered-consumer-spending-how-retailers-can-make-it-sustainable/#319de43659bf
June 14: Many elements played a part in the lackluster performance of the US international tourism industry in the past two years. Ample evidence shows that the Trump administration contributed to this. It’s hard to quantify the exact amount, but it’s likely less significant than many people think.
https://qz.com/quartzy/1305560/us-tourism-is-down-but-is-the-trump-slump-really-to-blame/
June 20: Starbucks Announces Plans To Close 150 Underperforming Stores ... No word yet on how many workers will lose their jobs when the stores close.
The world’s largest coffee chain is facing competition both from upscale coffee houses and lower-priced fast-food chains like McDonald’s Corp and Dunkin’ Donuts.
It has missed analysts’ estimates for same-store sales in the U.S.-dominated Americas region in five of the last six quarters.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/starbucks-closing-150-stores_us_5b29d549e4b05d6c16c8c202
June 24: Trump's Trade War Sets Bigger Booby Trap for U.S. Economy
The escalating trade battle between the U.S. and the rest of the world is raising the risk of a meaningful slowing in an otherwise vibrant American economy.
While the tariffs already in place and set to be implemented will barely dent U.S. growth, economists say the panoply of additional measures being considered would take a perceptible bite out of gross domestic product if they go ahead.
“It’s going to be more noticeably painful,” said Peter Hooper, chief economist at Deutsche Bank AG in New York.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-24/trump-s-trade-war-sets-bigger-booby-trap-for-strong-u-s-economy
June 25: Majority of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy for the first time
His overall approving rating rose 2 points to 41 percent from the first quarter survey, but the percentage of Americans who disapprove dropped 10 points to 47 percent, the lowest recorded by CNBC during his presidency. Trump’s approval rating remains negative, at minus 6, but it’s also the lowest negative rating recorded since he took office.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/25/majority-of-americans-approve-of-trumps-handling-of-the-economy.html
July 3: Mall vacancies hit six-year high
http://money.cnn.com/2018/07/03/news/companies/mall-vacancies-2018/index.html
July 11: Sears is laying off 200 more people
The layoffs were effective immediately, with severance provided through August 25. Sears already laid off about 220 people from from its corporate offices earlier this year.
https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/11/news/companies/sears-layoffs-illinois/index.html
July 23: Trump's tariff war could devastate Detroit
If the full-size pickup segment were to open up with the ending of the 'chicken tax,' it could wipe out earnings at Ford, GM, and Fiat Chrysler.
Industry officials have long warned that tariffs could add thousands of dollars to the cost of a new car, truck or crossover and, at a time when the U.S. vehicle market is already softening, lead to a sharp downturn in sales — and American jobs.
But some experts are now warning that the tariff war could backfire in an even bigger way, potentially costing Detroit’s Big Three their dominance in the profitable full-size pickup market.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/trump-s-tariff-war-could-devastate-detroit-n892781
July 24: New York Daily News cuts half of its staff
The New York Daily News announced on Monday plans to eliminate half of its newsroom as part of a broader effort to refocus the newspaper.
The Daily News, once the country's largest-circulation newspaper, has been among the most aggressive New York City publications in its coverage of President Donald Trump, with the newspaper's cover often needling Trump about recent scandals or missteps.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/new-york-daily-news-cuts-half-its-staff-n893631
July 27: U.S. Economy Surges To A 4.1 Percent Growth Pace In 2nd Quarter
Boosted by a 4-percent jump in consumer spending and a 13.3 percent surge in goods exports in the second quarter, the economy expanded at its fastest pace since the 4.9-percent rate of the third quarter of 2014.
... to grow at 4 [percent] probably tells you people were spending the tax cuts that they enjoyed back in January, but that's extremely unlikely to happen again.
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/27/632640711/u-s-could-see-blockbuster-economic-growth-number-today
July 27: Trump touts economy: 'These numbers are very, very sustainable'
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/27/politics/trump-economy/index.html
July 27: The Finance 202: The Trump economy may seem strong. But not that strong.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
July 27: Fact check: Trump falsely claims historic turnaround
Trump didn’t inherit a fixer-upper economy ... The U.S. economy just entered its 10th year of growth, a recovery from the Great Recession ... The data show that the falling unemployment rate and gains in home values reflect the duration of the recovery, rather than any major changes made since 2017 by the Trump administration.
While Trump praised the 4.1 percent annual growth rate in the second quarter, it exceeded that level four times during the Obama presidency.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2018/07/27/trump-economy-fact-check/37152185/
July 27: The White House pointed to the gross domestic product (GDP) numbers, considered an official economic scorecard, as a strong indication that its tax cuts, commitment to deregulation and tough trade policies have paid off. The GDP broadly reflects the goods and services produced in the country.
As reported by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, the growth from April to June was the largest since the economy's roughly 5 percent surge in the third quarter of 2014, which was the greatest economic expansion since the third quarter of 2003.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/07/27/gdp-report-shows-booming-4-1-percent-growth-as-trump-touts-terrific-numbers.html
August 7: DHS: More than 600K foreign travelers overstayed visas in 2017
https://thehill.com/latino/400789-trump-admin-more-than-600000-foreign-travelers-overstayed-visas-last-year
August 22: How a booming US economy can cost Trump his presidency
Strong economies tend to boost incumbents yet the Democrats are riding high in midterm election polls. Why?
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/22/how-a-booming-us-economy-can-cost-trump-his-presidency
August 7: It's vital for the rest of the world to visit America to better understand us, beyond our politics. But despite booming international tourism, the inescapable fact is that our current presidency has coincided with a precipitous drop in foreign travel to the United States. The tourism industry has dubbed this "The Trump Slump," coinciding with the 45th president's term in office.
The only other country in the developed world that saw a net drop in foreign travel from 2015 through 2017 was Turkey, whose authoritarian government is operating under a state of emergency.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lealane/2018/08/07/share-of-u-s-international-travel-drops-sharply-the-trump-slump/#709a221c4d30
September 10: Trump's latest boast about the economy isn't even close to accurate
"The GDP Rate (4.2%) is higher than the Unemployment Rate (3.9%) for the first time in over 100 years!" the president said in a tweet.
The first two numbers are correct, although they measure completely different things, and in different ways.
But Trump got it wrong — way wrong — when he said it hasn't happened in a century.
In the last 70 years, it's happened in at least 62 quarters, most recently in 2006.
"He wasn't even in the neighborhood of right ..."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/10/politics/trump-unemployment-gdp/index.html
September 13: Fact check: Did Trump pull off an economic turnaround?
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/fact-check-did-trump-pull-off-an-economic-turnaround-1319503427628?v=railb&
September 18: Investors are starting to worry about the economy
Investors are betting the US economy will continue to power ahead of the rest of the world.
Yet beneath the surface, some are getting worried about the ability of the global economy to withstand the trade war and brewing storms in emerging markets.
One in four professional investors is bracing for global growth to slow over the next year, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey published on Tuesday. That's the worst outlook in this monthly survey since December 2011 and up from August when just 7% of investors were pessimists.
https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/18/investing/economy-trade-war-china/index.html
September 24: [From "why do people love -or hate- Trump? Here Are The 20 Top Reasons "]
15. He is pro-capitalism.
He favors an economic system that strengthens the weak against the poor, that ravages the land, and that blithely stomps on indigenous cultures in order to render us all mindless consumers with no sense of self, virtue, or community. The world is on the brink of an economic collapse, and Trump wants to keep pumping life into a dying system that threatens all life on this planet as we know it.
https://thoughtcatalog.com/jeremy-london/2018/07/why-do-people-hate-trump/
September 26: Fed hikes interest rates, signals strong support for another increase in December
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-hikes-interest-rates-signals-strong-support-for-another-increase-in-december-2018-09-26
October 15: Sears Holdings plans to close another 142 unprofitable stores, as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, on top of 46 store closings announced in August.
Liquidation sales at the additional stores are expected to begin within two weeks, according to a court filing.
"As we look toward the holiday season, Sears and Kmart stores remain open for business and our dedicated associates look forward to serving our members and customers," Sears chairman Eddie Lampert said in a statement.
The company has 687 stores remaining, including Kmart locations.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/10/15/sears-holdings-bankruptcy-store-closures/1645971002/
October 26: The economy expanded at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday. That's slower than the second quarter's blockbuster 4.2 percent, but it puts the economy on pace for the fastest annual growth in 13 years.
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/26/660489729/will-headwinds-appear-in-u-s-economic-growth-benchmark
November 6: Lowe’s Companies said Monday that it will close 51 underperforming stores and other locations, including 20 stores in the U.S., as part of its plan to focus on its most profitable stores.
The stores being closed in the U.S. are located across 13 states. In Canada, 27 stores are being closed are across five provinces. The company is also closing four offices and specialty facilities in Canada.
The home improvement retailer expects the store closures to be completed by Feb. 1, 2019, which is the end of its fiscal 2018. The company plans to have closeout sales in most of the stores it is shutting, except for some U.S. stores that are closing immediately.
ttps://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-lowes-stores-are-closing-in-the-next-three-months-2018-11-05
November 26: The number of farms filing for bankruptcy is increasing across the Upper Midwest.
A new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis shows 84 farms filed for bankruptcy in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana in the 12 months that ended in June. That’s more than double the number over the same period in 2013 and 2014.
The Star Tribune reports the increase in Chapter 12 filings reflect low prices for corn, soybeans, milk and beef. The situation has gotten worse for farmers since June because of the retaliatory tariffs that have closed the Chinese market for soybeans and held back exports of milk and beef. Chapter 12 bankruptcy allows for repayment of debt over three years.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2018/11/26/farm-bankruptcies-on-rise-in-midwest/
November 26: GM to slash over 14,000 jobs from North American workforce
The reduction could include the closing of up to five domestic plants.
In the most far-reaching shake-up since the company emerged from bankruptcy more than eight years ago, General Motors will shutter three North American assembly plants and two other facilities, while also eliminating 15 percent of its salaried and salaried contract workforce, moves that together will cost an estimated 14,700 jobs.
The cuts are part of a plan to adapt to changing market demands favoring SUVs over sedans and coupes, while also shifting focus to the electrified and self-driving vehicles GM sees as central to the industry’s future.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gm-slash-over-14-000-jobs-north-american-workforce-n940091
December 22: President Donald Trump is spreading misinformation about U.S. economic growth, the Russia investigation and the Islamic State group in Syria.
He and his advisers are declaring a “record” drop in U.S. poverty last year where none exists, and “very strong” capital spending next year due to Trump administration tax cuts. In fact, capital spending is projected to slow, probably dampening economic growth.
https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2018/12/22/ap-fact-check-trumps-record-poverty-drop-flynns-lies
-- 2019 --
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