| The U.S. economy is thiving in the run-up to the 2024 election, despite the misleading contentions of candidate Trump. |
| Last week, for the first time in history, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 40,000.
Record highs for both the Dow and broader measures like the S & P 500 are also noteworthy given that back in 2020, during Biden and Trump’s second debate, Trump — who really does like to measure economic success by the stock market — said “the stock market will crash” if Biden won. Not to put too fine a point on it, but do you have any doubt that Republicans, across the board, would be trumpeting the Dow’s record high from every rooftop if Donald Trump were still in the White House? By the numbers, the economy looks very good. Unemployment has now been below 4 percent for 27 months, a record last achieved in the late 1960s, ending in February 1970. Inflation is way down from its peak in 2022, although by most measures it’s still somewhat above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 percent. U.S. economic growth over the past four years has been much faster than in comparable major wealthy nations. Yet Trump says that the economy is “collapsing into a cesspool of ruin.” How can such claims be reconciled with the good economic data? Trump, however, has once again claimed that stocks will crash if he doesn’t win. Source: "What Does the Dow Hitting 40,000 Tell Us?" By Paul Krugman - NY Times - 5/20/2024 Mr. Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax,” has targeted “every one” of Mr. Biden’s policies designed to transition the United States away from fossil fuels. That includes regulations to encourage electric vehicles and solar and wind energy while cracking down on pollution from coal-burning power plants and restricting oil drilling on public lands and in federal waters. The former president has also promised to withdraw the United States from global agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But more than a dozen economists, energy experts and business leaders said weakening or repealing the Inflation Reduction Act could eviscerate American competitiveness in the rapidly growing global race to dominate clean energy. “It would be a blow to manufacturing,” said Mark M. Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “China would certainly benefit.” Companies have announced plans to build or expand 164 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States, creating about 44,000 jobs to develop things like wind turbines, solar cells, transformers and lithium-iron phosphate batteries used in electric vehicles. About a third of the new manufacturing is either operating or under construction. In addition to shifting the United States away from fossil fuels, the burning of which are dangerously heating the planet, the I.R.A. is industrial policy designed to return manufacturing to the country from overseas, particularly China, where green technology is heavily subsidized. Source: "Trump Says Clean Energy Is a Scam. That Could Benefit China, Experts Say" By Lisa Friedman - NY Times - June 26, 2024 |
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