ECONOMY/OBAMA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump and his economic advisers want recognition for their 20 months in the White House. The White House on Monday [9-10-18] extended its argument that the strong economic growth underway across the U.S. is its own — not a trend that began years ago under former President Barack Obama. The latest assertion, in a lengthy appearance during the White House press briefing by Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett, contradicted the conclusions of most mainstream economists and appeared to signal that the Trump White House feels a strong economy isn’t sufficient reason to vote Republican in the midterms unless it creates a contrast with Obama. Hassett denied his appearance was prompted by a Friday [9-7-18] speech in which Obama said, ‘When you hear how great the economy’s doing right now, let’s just remember when this recovery started.’ The current economic expansion began in mid-2009, six months into Obama’s first term. The dispute goes to the heart of Trump’s arguments this fall. Facing ugly projections for a GOP rout, the president is trying to persuade voters to stick with Republicans by arguing they’ve delivered an economic turnaround. But many major gauges on economic growth and job growth were just as strong during parts of the Obama years, even without Trump‘s deregulation and deficit-boosting tax cuts.”
–Timothy Noah, “Trump fights to wrest credit for the economy from Obama,” Politico, September 10, 2018 7:37 pm