Donald Trump Has Done Only Harm To The Economy

     People often claim that Trump has "presided over the longest economic growth in history." And that is partially true. In 2019, the economic growth officially became the longest in history, and it lasted until March 2020. But, with a little simple math, one can see that the economic growth actually began in 2009, specifically in October. What happened that year? Barack Obama was inaugurated in January, and by that summer he had bailed out the auto industry (with loans that were soon repaid with interest), signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and overhauled financial regulations regarding Wall Street. The growth continued throughout the Obama administration. 

     The economy was not, in fact, a mess when Trump inherited it, but on the rise. The economy, when growing, can be left alone for some time, and it will continue to grow. Trump's only real impacts on the economy were negatives: he cut taxes for the rich; he worked to dismantle the clean energy industry, even though it has surpassed the fossil fuel industry in job creation; he drastically increased government spending, leading to the highest national debt in history; he launched a tariff war with China that drastically increased prices for American consumers. Tariffs can be moderately beneficial for producers of raw materials, but for manufacturers, the "people of Pittsburgh" he uses as an excuse to destroy the environment, tariffs are a death sentence.

     Trump's luck, as it can only be described, with inheriting good economic growth came to an end in March of this year, when coronavirus caused the highest rate of unemployment since the Great Depression, the worst Quarter 2 returns in decades, and a drastic reduction in consumption on the part of citizens. His complete mishandling of the pandemic resulted in this economic destruction, and in no way Trump can be called competent.