Center for American Progress
By David Madland, Olugbenga Ajilore, Michael Madowitz, and Daniella Zessoules
September 11, 2018
“Positive measures of unemployment and gross domestic product (GDP), such as those repeatedly touted by the Trump administration,1 show the kind of strong economy that ordinarily leads voters to reward incumbents of the party in power.2 However, a range of other economic indicators suggest that many Americans are still struggling, indicating that voters may in fact punish those incumbents in the midterm elections.
On measures that determine whether workers’ wages are keeping up with the cost of living, there has been little improvement and even some regression since the start of 2017, when President Donald Trump took office. In contrast, the rich and corporations have done quite well, as indicators such as corporate profits and the stock market have soared.
This combination of high profits and low wage growth is not an accident. Trump has aligned himself with the traditional conservative trickle-down policies that reward those with wealth while undermining workers. A number of Trump’s policies, such as his massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, have helped the rich gain an ever-growing share of the economy while doing relatively little for most workers.3 Even worse, some of Trump’s policies have harmed workers, for example, by limiting an Obama-era proposal to expand overtime pay and making it harder for workers to join a union and bargain collectively.4 And while Trump’s trade wars continue to generate headlines, they have had little measurable effect on the well-being of most workers.
In short, President Trump has continued and, in some cases, exacerbated a long-standing problem: The vast majority of America’s economic gains have gone to those who are already well-off. …..”
Full article: https://goo.gl/1e9dho
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