There were economists who said that the nation was heading into a new recession. That threat was looming on the heels of the weakest recovery from a recession in generations — and one where the federal government had essentially doubled the national debt during the 8 years of the Obama Administration.
Fast-forward to yesterday, when revised economic numbers from the Wall Street Journal and CNBC revealed that the U.S. economy had grown at a 3.1 percent rate in the second quarter.
What those reports often fail to note is the additional debt that was accumulated by the U.S. Treasury, in the twisted terminology known as QE – short of Quantitative Easing.
Trillions in debt was purchased to buoy the markets. As the right-leaning NYPost noted at the time, it was President Obama’s gift to the wealthy.
Despite the rhetoric, almost none prosecuted for the 2008 market meltdown during the Obama years.
The ObamaNation Fed pumped up the stock market artificially through the QE process. That raised the markets, which benefited those who are investors. No wonder Wall Street barons are welcoming the now former president with similar high-dollar speaking fees that former President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton obtained.
Tax Reform, Health Care, Immigration Reform Needed
Because the Executive Branch has a significant ability to influence existing regulation, President Trump’s numerous Executive Orders (EOs) have delivered about 16 regulatory roll backs for each new regulation put in place, per White House pressroom sources to MHProNews.
But numerous other items require Congress to act. Those include:
- Tax reform,
- the repeal and replace of ObamaCare – which is now pushed back to 2018,
- Dodd-Frank repeal and replace – which has drawn scant headlines in recent weeks,
- Immigration reform, which is a major cause of depressed wages for the working class, as the Daily Business News has previously reported.
On the last bullet above, both Republicans and Democrats have drug their feet on the immigration issue, but for somewhat different reasons. The U.S. Chamber has an interest in keeping wages low, and uses its influence in the GOP to accomplish that end. Democrats, by contrast, see illegal as well as many legal immigrants as often becoming future voters in their identity politics voting block.
The Trump economic agenda is thus facing significant headwinds on Capitol Hill. While the final tax reform bill will likely not be as robust as the president might hope, inside-the-beltway sources in Washington D.C. tell MHProNews that the odds for passage of some economic boosting tax measure before the end of 2017 looks good. ## (News, analysis.)
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