Lord Barack Obama has descended from the heavens and is gracing the American people with his presence. Citing his favorite passages from the Book of Barack – you didn’t build that, 57 states, and spread the wealth around – America’s savior is spouting fictitious tales about how he is the cause for today’s roaring economy. The king of kings is commanding you to bow down and say thanks for the daily miracles he performed for eight years, like recording anemic growth and doubling the national debt. Kissing his boot is the only way to enter the Kingdom of Obama.
Thanks Obama
In recent months, the former president has traveled across the U.S. to remind the public that a lot of the winning Americans are enjoying today is because of his administration’s policies. Job creation, a bull market, energy independence, and rising gross domestic product (GDP) are the result of Obama, not the incumbent White House occupant or the marketplace.
The Washington Free Beacon put together a hilarious compilation of Obama flattering himself for the present economic recovery.
As Liberty Nation’s Martin Walsh reported, Obama has been on a crusade to both personally slam Donald Trump and pad his own ego – he mentioned himself 79 times in the same speech in under an hour.
It is this smugness and arrogance that has endeared him to the leftist elite; they share the similar supercilious manner. At the same time, this group of pompous snobs often chide President Trump for routinely congratulating himself for the abundance of gains in the last two years.
While it is obvious that Obama is trying to rebrand his abysmal presidency for left-leaning historians to look back on with great nostalgia, he’s using a concoction of distortion, fake news, and ignorance.
Obamanomics
Despite inheriting a mess from his predecessor, Obama had everything in his favor to achieve historic growth. The Federal Reserve printed trillions in new money and slashed interest rates, financial markets bottomed out, and he maintained complete legislative power for two years. Yet, he posted the slowest economic recovery since the end of the Second World War.
According to a July 2016 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, economic growth between 2009 and 2016 was slower than the previous ten expansions. The GDP grew by an average of 4.3%, compared to Obama’s average annual rate of 2%, making him the only president to never deliver 3% growth in a single year.
Obama will go down in U.S. history with the fourth-worst economic record on a list of 40 presidents. He ranks just ahead of Herbert Hoover (-5.65%), Andrew Johnson (-0.7%), and Theodore Roosevelt (1.41%).
In the soft-boom phase of the business cycle, the private sector created jobs under Obama. On the surface, the ex-president can be jubilant about his record. However, once you scratch underneath that yellow drip road, you uncover a different portrait. The labor force participation rate (LFPR) tumbled to a 40-year low, the U.S. turned into a part-time jobs nation thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), entrepreneurial activity slipped 14%, and job creation did not keep up with the working-age population. Most importantly, if you measure job growth from the peak of the previous business cycle, it was the lowest since the 1980s.
The relationship between the fossil fuel industry and Obama was complicated. He often went into tirades against Big Oil, famously saying, “You can either stand up for the oil companies, or you can stand up for the American people.” At the same time, he tried to have his cake and eat it too by favoring green energy but then enabling crude giants to drill for oil. So, is he responsible for the U.S. becoming Saudi America? Nope. This was the free market at work – the record boom just happened to coincide with Trump’s ascent to the White House.
Philosophy
For whatever reason, large swaths of the voting public think the president manages the economy. He alone is the one to grow the economy or send it crashing. Believe it or not, there are many people who believe they have some magical tree on the White House lawn that makes money.
But do politicians create prosperity? Hardly – they only tax it and take credit for it.
Obama arrogantly told entrepreneurs that “you didn’t build that,” buying into the philosophy of it takes a village. On the contrary, businesses did build that. They took the risk with their capital to satisfy consumer demand for goods and services. Companies hired employees, invested in daily operations, and withstood the tidal wave of red tape.
Bureaucrats and politicians are not all-knowing apotheoses that produce wealth. There isn’t some czar who owns a crystal ball and predicts what prices will be, what industries will flourish, and what the market will be tomorrow.
The only thing administrations and lawmakers can do is present favorable conditions, like low taxes, minuscule regulations, and limited government. Trump has slashed tax rates and eliminated burdensome rules, which is why you’re witnessing such monumental growth now.
But there is one institution that can make or break expansions: The Federal Reserve. [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”24″]This spells trouble for a man who has claimed responsibility for the 6,000-point increase.[/perfectpullquote]
The Fed
President Trump’s hostility towards the Eccles Building is understandable.
His predecessor enjoyed historically low interest rates, aggressive money-printing, and unconventional monetary policy tools. He has not been extended the same courtesy – and he shouldn’t be! Since nominating Jerome Powell to helm the central bank, money supply growth has stalled, rate hikes are the norm, and the balance sheet is winding down. These developments are unable to sustain the bull market of the last decade.
This spells trouble for a man who has claimed responsibility for the 6,000-point increase. What happens when the New York Stock Exchange collapses and Wall Street enters a bear market? That’s why every politician needs to be wary about taking credit for successes in the private economy.
Obama, Obama, Obama
Right now, the NPCs on the left have two talking points: The economy is doing well because of Obama or the Trump economy is not doing well. If you point out the contradiction, their programmed hive minds will implode.
Before the 2016 election, then-President Obama censured the real estate billionaire mogul for making grandiose promises about quarterly growth and job creation. So far, there is an egg on The Chosen One’s face, and this sin is not allowed to happen to the Messiah. Rather than keeping quiet, as former President George W. Bush did, Obama is crying for attention and spouting boring, anti-Trump tropes.
Perhaps 44 should take his own advice and concede that he didn’t build today’s boom.
