economies go in cycles, ups and downs, no matter who is in the whitehouse,.. but

over the long term, obama did little to help the economy.  

by my estimation, the ACA reduced GDP by about 0.75%   

he also added to debt, which will be a drag long term.

trump cut taxes,  a big positive. but...

this added far too much debt.  he should have cut spending first.  

and the tarriffs are a drag on growth.  (even tho we do need to address the intellectual property problem & china). 

without the tax cuts, i think our economy would have the same low growth as europe.  closer to 1 or 1.5%.

I have seen Austin make a fool of himself way too many tines to believe one word from him. He is a typical political lib prof hack. Ask yourself one or two questions about the "chosen one" Why was he going to fundamentally change America? And why were those jobs never coming back? And for MM. why would someone who so believes in global climate change and warming and sea levels rising to the end of our east coastline buy a 15 million dollar estate on the very same coast line if he had ever believed such poppy cock in the first place? why? Did he lie? Was he bought off? Is it all atypical DC hoax? Did he  not know we would find out sooner or later? Is he that big of a hypocrite?

mcfarm,

Obama buying the house on the ocean might tell us that he's not too worried about the extreme scenario's or doesn't think the time frame will affect him. He will be dead when the seas get to his house  even with the most extreme scenario.

Funny thing is that the actual rate of sea level increase, just over an inch/decade or 1 foot/century, means that probably he  has more than 1,000 years. A generation is considered to be 30 years. That means that over 30 generations of Obama's can live in that house(or other people most likely) before the Atlantic Ocean is at their house.

Of course big (natural) storms and water intrusions/surges along the coast can do more damage if the seas are a couple feet higher in 200 years.

Obama probably, off the record (what he really believes)probably is not nearly as extreme but his on the record statements don't jibe at all with his personal decisions, like this one. Gore does the same thing too.

Their advice for the little people is that sacrifices have to be made. We must do exactly what they say to save the planet. Never mind that their carbon footprint is 20 times higher than us and the actions they take in their personal lives is the opposite of ours.........as they OVER indulge(gorge) themselves in the luxuries and benefits created by burning fossil fuels. 

For every Obama and Gore out there, it takes 20 people cutting back to ZERO in order just to maintain the average. 

But this is the thing about these elites. AOC talks Green New Deal and saving the planet but her lifestyle, maximizes the use of the thing that  she says is killing the planet.

I am sitting in a house with a current temperature of 54 degrees on the thermostat. The biggest reason is that it saves a ton on the heating bill, my wife is gone during the day and I am perfectly happy to wear my Winter coat while on the computer.............and oh yeah, it cuts back on fossil fuels.

As an environmentalist, I  conserve natural resources in my personal life.

Minimize use of plastics unless reusable, conserve energy and water. Less grocery bags/boxes. I used to recycle.

Contrast that life style with Obama's or AOC's.

Yeah, we know, those rich and famous people need all that stuff so they can comfortably and  efficiently serve as the "messengers" of the belief system that us peons have to follow. 

We should all remember what things were like just 150 years ago, not that long ago in human history. Kings and Queens didn't have it as good as most poor people in the US today. 

I don't have to spend another page describing America in the year 1869, just after the Civil War ended. We all know those people had nothing.

No technology, no medicine, no transportation, no machines, no indoor plumbing, no hot water, no stores like today, not much food or available fresh water in some places............nothing compared to today.

And many of them thought that they had it pretty good!

One train of thought is a leader can sort of work around the edges to help or hinder the economy. Some are more active, some less so, but the economy bumbles along in cycles as said above

One thing that does affect the economy is what action the Fed takes.

 Does the Fed hike int rates or lower

Does the Fed tighten the supply of money or loosen

Does the Fed print money and then where does that money go

Does the Fed expand it's balance sheet by purchasing assets, namely equities or bonds or contract it's balance sheet

The Fed has much more influence than any president could ever hope for, unless a president decided to have balanced budgets [lol] and even then the Fed is involved

Clinton wanted the Fed to goose the economy even more during his tenure but the Fed refused to listen or act other than to their own drum beat.

Clinton tried to get the Fed on his side as he knew the Fed was more powerful than he was.

Clinton had a good run if I remember but he wanted more

Clinton had the Dot Com boom.  Without  it, the 90's would have looked quite different.

Giving credit where credit is due. But...credit does indeed have a "come due date". Are we borrowing our way to prosperity? Can we say "irrational exuberance"?

http://ktla.com/2019/11/13/americans-now-hold-a-record-14-trillion-in-consumer-debt/

http://ktla.com/2019/10/25/u-s-federal-budget-deficit-soars-to-984-billion-highest-level-in-7-years/

I read a report that consumer confidence is starting to slip a small amount

People are concerned about personal debt, job security etc

This not to say the consumer market is in big trouble, but most recessions start small and then build over time until everybody wants out the same exit. The housing bubble started with people buying houses and then renting, using the increased value or equity to finance another house and so on

I talked to a couple while waiting for a flight gate at Detroit airport to open and they informed me they owned 6 houses in Detroit.

I always wondered if they got out of their houses before Detroit economy crashed or if they got caught in the horrible devaluation of Detroit housing

I also talked to a small time investor looking for an opportunity after houses were  at fire sale prices, in N Carolina [I think]. Did he invest at the right time, did he start small so if the house devalued, was he using cash or borrowed money

I always wish I could find these various people and find out if things worked out or if they made a move at the wrong time. I remember he asked my opinion. I told him I was a foreigner from Canada and not much help but I thought houses had some room to go lower

I read more than usual of the big investors are moving money from the stk market to cash, while other smaller investors think the stk market has room to go even higher

 That recent Chinese bond offering was crazy, so  it just goes to show that investors are still desperately looking for yield

Personally I wish my wife would change her stk portfolio but two yrs of being wrong doesn't give me much credibility

I want her to invest in some solid gold miner stk

I am in the camp that a recession starts before end of 2020. The last time we just held the portfolio and in time we regained the losses and more. I don't blame a leader for a recession. I am in the camp that business has cycles the same as farming of anything else of that nature

Sometimes or mostly when I try to out guess the market I am wrong

If I sell my corn for enough to pay the bills then I consider that a win. Same with trying to guess the stk market or the gold bars I own. I have no idea what is the best so I just sort of bumble along.