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It’s too early to draw any large conclusions about the performance of the US economy during the Trump administration, but the first quarter of 2017’s growth rate, 0.7 percent, is distressingly low.
North Korea’s growth rate is estimated at between 1 and 1.5 percent, by comparison.
The US stock market, among the economy’s leading indicators, continues to go up. The investor class reaps immediate benefit, pension plans and 401(k)s get a boost, and consumer spending is bolstered by the wealth effect. Yet a large number of Americans do not realize gains.
A Pew Research Center study released last week found that between 1991 and 2010 the American middle class had shrunk, from 62 to 59 percent of adults in middle-income households. The number of rich and the number of poor had increased as the middle class was hollowed out. Income, in effect, was redistributed from the middle class to the upper-income class as economic inequality widened.
The same Pew study found that US performance with respect to the fate of the middle class was worse than that of the other 11 countries in the study. Advocates of globalization will find it hard to argue that America is benefiting from the present arrangement.
The contraction of America’s middle class has led to frustration with and distrust of its ruling political elite, contributing to the vote for Trump in November, particularly from the “forgotten people.” Political developments such as the non-repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the non-rocket start of the tax reform bill, and the threat of yet another war, with North Korea -- as opposed to progress on infrastructure construction and repair -- are undoubtedly making those who voted for Trump in hopes of an economic resurgence, including growth and jobs, begin to wonder. Yet turnout at his rallies would suggest that he still has time.
As far as overall economic prospects for America are concerned, the long-term decline of the middle class in favor of the rich and the poor, and the economy’s feeble 0.7 percent growth rate so far this year, are real signs of reason for grave concern on the part of our leaders. We have seen distress already in three-and-four-job families, opioid deaths and people just dropping out of the economy, but the Pew study and the sub-North Korea growth rate has placed frightening data meat on the bones of concern.
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
North Korea’s growth rate is estimated at between 1 and 1.5 percent, by comparison.
The US stock market, among the economy’s leading indicators, continues to go up. The investor class reaps immediate benefit, pension plans and 401(k)s get a boost, and consumer spending is bolstered by the wealth effect. Yet a large number of Americans do not realize gains.
A Pew Research Center study released last week found that between 1991 and 2010 the American middle class had shrunk, from 62 to 59 percent of adults in middle-income households. The number of rich and the number of poor had increased as the middle class was hollowed out. Income, in effect, was redistributed from the middle class to the upper-income class as economic inequality widened.
The same Pew study found that US performance with respect to the fate of the middle class was worse than that of the other 11 countries in the study. Advocates of globalization will find it hard to argue that America is benefiting from the present arrangement.
The contraction of America’s middle class has led to frustration with and distrust of its ruling political elite, contributing to the vote for Trump in November, particularly from the “forgotten people.” Political developments such as the non-repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the non-rocket start of the tax reform bill, and the threat of yet another war, with North Korea -- as opposed to progress on infrastructure construction and repair -- are undoubtedly making those who voted for Trump in hopes of an economic resurgence, including growth and jobs, begin to wonder. Yet turnout at his rallies would suggest that he still has time.
As far as overall economic prospects for America are concerned, the long-term decline of the middle class in favor of the rich and the poor, and the economy’s feeble 0.7 percent growth rate so far this year, are real signs of reason for grave concern on the part of our leaders. We have seen distress already in three-and-four-job families, opioid deaths and people just dropping out of the economy, but the Pew study and the sub-North Korea growth rate has placed frightening data meat on the bones of concern.
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
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Articles by Korea Herald
