If Trump Imitates GOP Presidents, His Jobs Promise Will Fail - by Joe Conason

[DonViejo]

Within a day after Donald Trump’s triumphal visit to Indiana, where he claimed credit for “saving” 800 jobs at a Carrier factory, the Department of Labor released its first monthly unemployment report since his election victory — and one of the last that will come out during the presidency of Barack Obama. Together those two events illustrated the contrast between a real strategy for economic growth and the dubious gambit of a Twitter addict.

During his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly warned that if he became president, companies moving U.S. manufacturing plants abroad would suffer punitive tariffs of 35 or even 45 percent when they tried to sell their overseas products here. More than once he specifically mentioned Carrier Corp., which builds cooling and heating units. After post-election conversations with company officials that included his running mate, Indiana governor Mike Pence, Trump declared that he had fulfilled his promise by “saving” those Carrier jobs.

Yet instead of punishing Carrier for taking most of its Indiana jobs to Mexico, Trump and Pence had actually rewarded the company with $7 million in state tax booty and guarantees of a big cut in its federal tax rate — plus any additional promises concerning the billions in Pentagon contracts held by Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies. Spending other people’s money, Trump did precisely the opposite of what he had promised — but appeared heroic for at least one news cycle.

The next day came the latest proof of the steady success of Obama and his economic team, with yet another monthly tick upward in job growth and another tick downward in the unemployment rate — now at 4.6 percent, its lowest point in almost a decade. Even with all the caveats about slow wage growth, reduced workforce participation, and continued manufacturing losses, the revival of the American economy under Obama is an enormous achievement and the envy of the world. Yet it is all too easy to imagine the voters who supported Trump dismissing what this president has accomplished.

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[spanone]

1. K&R...

[lonestarnot]

2. If his first attempt at negotiation is a net job loss, yeah jobless angry yam supporters are going

to be left worse off as the safety net they have been using will be on fire along with the roof. The spoon is in the garbage disposal, the switch will turn on Jan 20 if yammering yam isn't shown to be the cheater he is by the recounts.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. The Donald is going to have to keep the economy growing

The Donald is going to have to keep the economy growing with a private sector creating jobs at a rate that comes close to or matches what President Obama has done if he and the Repuds want to stay in power. Unlike the legions of Magoos in the Republican Party, I do not believe he can do it, particularly since he and the Repuds are bent on policies that will transform the US into a Third World country.


There will be a recession sometime in the next four years. This is inevitable; it would have happened even if enough voters turned out to defeat Trump and had given the Senate to Democratic control. With Trump kicking the healthcare industry in the teeth and pursuing Something fouler than Dubya-nomics, the recession will hit sooner and harder.

The Magoos who claimed they voted for Trump on economic issues are setting all of us up for real hard times.