The economy is humming along and President Trump has every right to mention it.
But, unfortunately, Trump cannot help himself, continuing to embellish the facts when he doesn’t have to.
On Friday he inaccurately tweeted:
“The Economy is booming like never before, Jobs are at Historic Highs.”
It is true the economy is booming, and if Trump had stopped there he’d be fine.
GDP is growing at a 3 percent-plus rate. The stock market has jumped 27 percent amid a surge in corporate profits. Nonfarm payrolls rose in the last quarter by a better-than-expected 201,000 and wages increased by 2.9 percent year over year to the highest level since April 2009. That made it the best gain since the recession ended in June 2009.
All of that is positive news for any president.
But Trump can’t help himself, falsely claiming the economy “is booming like never before.”
In fact, the economy is growing at a modest rate compared with previous economic expansions.
In the late 1990s, growth topped 4 percent for four straight years, from 1997 through 2000. In the 1980s expansion, growth even reached 7.2 percent in 1984.
The unemployment rate of 3.9 percent is strong (near an 18-year low), but it’s not at the best point ever.
The all-time low came in 1953, when unemployment fell to 2.5 percent during the Korean War. Meanwhile, a greater percentage of Americans held jobs in 2000 than now.
And let’s not forget the (big) elephant in the room. While Trump promised to cut the federal budget deficit, it’s now at $684 billion — up almost 21 percent on this time in 2017. His administration now estimates it will top $1 trillion next year.
Perhaps that’s why Trump feels the need to take some good quarterly economic news and embellish it.