Plurality of Economists Say Inflation Would Be Worse Under Trump

56%

“The Wall Street Journal’s survey, conducted July 5-9, received responses from 68 professional forecasters from business, Wall Street and academia. Of the 50 who answered questions about Trump and Biden, 56% said inflation would be higher under another Trump term than a Biden term, versus 16% who said the opposite. The remainder saw no material difference.”

U.S. Economy Grew by Just 3.5% in Trump’s Last Year

3.5%

“The U.S. economy shrank by 3.5 percent last year as the novel coronavirus upended American business and households, making 2020 the worst year for U.S. economic growth since the depths of the Great Recession,” the Washington Post reports. “This is the last GDP report from former president Donald Trump’s tenure. Until the pandemic, Trump was on track for an economic record that put him near the middle of the pack among recent presidents. But the covid-19 crisis has ensured that he is likely to have overseen the slowest economic growth of any president in the period since the Second World War.”

Shocker: Trickle-Down Economics Doesn’t Work

50

Bloomberg: “Tax cuts for rich people breed inequality without providing much of a boon to anyone else, according to a study of the advanced world that could add to the case for the wealthy to bear more of the cost of the coronavirus pandemic. … The paper, by David Hope of the London School of Economics and Julian Limberg of King’s College London, found that such measures over the last 50 years only really benefited the individuals who were directly affected, and did little to promote jobs or growth.”

U.S. Poverty Rate Is Soaring

7.8 million

“The U.S. poverty rate has surged over the past five months, with 7.8 million Americans falling into poverty, the latest indication of how deeply many are struggling after government aid dwindled,” the Washington Post reports. “The poverty rate jumped to 11.7 percent in November, up 2.4 percentage points since June, according to new data released Wednesday by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame.”

Pandemic Continues to Take Toll on Jobs

860,000

“The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000, a historically high figure that reflects economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak,” the AP reports. “Before the pandemic hit the economy, the number signing up for jobless aid had never exceeded 700,000 in a week, even during the depths of the 2007-2009 Great Recession.”