Poll of the Day > Do any of you think that inflation and the economy would have been better under

(+) Yeah! (+)

trump, if he would have won re election than under biden?

It would be the exact same.

The same, if not worse for anyone who isn't at least well-off.

What's happening now is almost entirely due to the policies of Trump.

Why is it so hard for people to understand? Current year's budget is voted on in the prior year, so this is the first year we even have a "Biden budget".
Also, the effects of policy don't happen in an instant, like flipping a light switch.

The biggest cause of inflation is the Federal Reserve going on a money printing spree in 2020 (half of the dollars in circulation today were printed in 2020 alone), to prop up the stock market (which went up like a rocket despite us being in an economic crisis). This severely devalued the dollar, it just took time for the effect to happen. Also, the Fed kept interest rates near zero during Trump's entire term despite the economy "booming", inflating various bubbles even harder. He also was responsible for the disgusting tax cuts for the rich in 2017, that even other republicans said made them look like cartoon villains (before dutifully voting for it anyway).
Now, I won't give the left a pass. They want billions in student loan cancellation, they wanted even more stimulus and even higher unemployment boosts, etc... They would've wrecked the economy as well (maybe not as badly... money in the hands of many at least helps the economy somewhat, instead of more of it in the hands of the already wealthy). And Obama should've raised interest rates near the end of his term, too.

It'd just be nice if people stopped acting like you can print endless money w/o consequence or that "deficits don't matter".

I think people vastly overestimate the power the President actually has, and have a woefully piss-poor understand of global economic trends in general.

How even is the economy really

i see people in stores all the time

It's

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all

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President

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Biden's

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fault.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I think people vastly overestimate the power the President actually has, and have a woefully piss-poor understand of global economic trends in general.

It's the Fed w/ all of the power.
But the President appoints the Fed chair and, considering how Trump's constant squawking for lower (even negative!) interest rates kept Jerome Powell from raising them his entire term, the president can clearly lean on them a bit to get his way.

It's disgusting how much control the Fed has over the economy. Stock market literally rises or falls based on Fed meeting minutes and the guessing of them beforehand (hence how lower unemployment leads to them falling, b/c it means the Fed may cut off the easy money)
Or how the Fed has manipulated the housing market.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_chOOESd5w

streamofthesky posted...

The biggest cause of inflation is the Federal Reserve going on a money printing spree in 2020 (half of the dollars in circulation today were printed in 2020 alone)

This may be ignorant on my part, but US currency is not very durable....a lot of printing has to be to make up losses of previous series being too damaged to keep being circulated(banks send back to be destroyed when they get notes in bad shape)...

I don't have any knowledge of the economy or inflation. But this is something I wanted to add. It may make no difference, though. I am not sure.

argonautweakend posted...

This may be ignorant on my part, but US currency is not very durable....a lot of printing has to be to make up losses of previous series being too damaged to keep being circulated(banks send back to be destroyed when they get notes in bad shape)...

I don't have any knowledge of the economy or inflation. But this is something I wanted to add. It may make no difference, though. I am not sure.

If you think most of the US economy is tied up in physical bills, you're in a world of hurt.

I know that, but when I heard money printing spree, I was thinking physical money, but it doesn't have to be that

argonautweakend posted...

I know that, but when I heard money printing spree, I was thinking physical money, but it doesn't have to be that

Sorry, it's just the expression.
Obviously a lot of it isn't physical money printing. It's more like...

Fed: "Hey, giant corporation who's doing just fine! Here's a giant influx of digital money being provided to you at near-zero % interest, ie 'free money'. Go use it to stimulate the economy and create jobs!" *wink* *wink*

Giant Corporation: "Why thanks, Federal Reserve, I'll get right on that" *wink* *nod* *wink*

Giant Corporation: *proceeds to plow all of the free money into buying back its own stocks, to artificially inflate its value and give the people who made the decision giant yearly bonuses, instead of hiring more people, raising wages, investing in new facilities, etc...*

Fed: *fake shocked Pikachu face* "What? I can't believe this happened again! I thought for sure this time the free money in the hands of the rich would trickle down! ...Oh well, I'm sure it'll work out next time. Also, please don't us about our investments in the stock market we accidentally propped up."

I mean, Trump never blocked oil drilling permits during the middle of an energy crisis, so there's that, at least. Beyond that, there are significant contributing factors to the problems right now that might've been kicked down the road had Trump been re-elected, where maybe the impact wouldn't be as bad for the delay.

Other things might've turned out the same. Biden's vaccine rollout wound up being the same thing Trump said he'd do -- let the states figure it out (despite Biden swearing up and down the campaign trail he'd manage things). Some amount of inflation was inevitable either way, although Biden has done things to make it worse (again, who the fuck trying to block drilling during an energy crisis? Not to mention some of these issues go back to when he was VP'ing for Obama). Given it's a global issue right now and the US participates in that global market, some of it is hard to avoid.

However, Trump did some things Hillary and Biden would've done that contributed to this mess -- such as paying people to not work, which helped to amplify the labor shortage that pushed up wages and has helped to drive inflation. Even without that policy, costs were going to rise to some extent due to supply chain issues caused by COVID.

In short, I'm not sure how much better it might be under Trump and that extent might be negligible but, given Biden's policy decisions, it seems like Trump may've been at least a slight improvement because, and this is true, he wouldn't fucking block drilling permits during an energy crisis.

The biggest problem with the dollar is how it's a proxy global currency, so the US is more susceptible than most to global problems. No one nation can control the global economy, so a global crash is unavoidable.

We'd be energy independent, so lower costs there, we wouldnt be paying the highest average ever for gas, that's for sure

The major cause of US inflation is government overspending.. we may have had the same stimulus and unemployment handouts under Trump (he probably would've tried to end the over the top payments sooner than the Dems who wanted larger handouts to go out) but I highly doubt the Republicans had 2 massive spending bills tucked away if Trump won reelection (yes, I'm aware and like everyone thankful only 1 passed)

Screw gas, chicken is the cheapest it's ever been!!!!!