When the economy sputters, Americans look for someone to blame. Often, the finger gets pointed at the White House.
But how much credit or criticism does the president really deserve? The answer will be central to the 2024 presidential campaign, which has already kicked off and might well become a showdown between the current and immediate past residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. So, with former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden touting their respective economic records, Barron’s took a look at how various aspects of the economy fared under each administration.
The economic record, for both, is mixed. Trump inherited a healthy economy from former President Barack Obama that was eight years past the 2007-09 economic downturn, and steadily expanding. In the period under study, job growth chugged along and inflation was tame. But wages were flat, and increases in the gross domestic product and job creation were more or less a continuation of trends that began in the Obama years, rather than a direct result of any changes that Trump made.
Trump had one major legislative victory in his early years: a suite of tax cuts on companies and individuals passed in 2017. The measures helped boost the stock market and fueled investment and demand, but also drove up the size of the U.S. debt.
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