Traditionally, presidents receive more blame than they deserve for bad economic times and more credit than they deserve for good economic times.  While President George W. Bush can be fairly criticized for other things, he has received more blame than he deserves for the Great Recession of 2008.  After all, he had little to do with the financial deregulation of the 1990’s or the housing bubble, especially since Greenspan and Bernanke were both telling him there was no problem.

Conversely, President Obama will be given too much credit for the good economic times.  He took over at the bottom of that recession and rode the recovery up.  In fairness, he tried to do much more but was completely blocked by Congress.  Thank God for autopilot!

All presidents like to pretend they are Superman.  At some point in the not-too-far future, President Trump will be taking credit for the good economic times we’re now enjoying.  Let us not forget that the stock market is already reaching record highs, and that the economic data has become relentlessly good.  For example, GDP growth in the last quarter was a healthy 3.2%.  Last week, we learned that consumer sentiment is the highest since the internet boom of the 1990’s.  Yesterday, we learned that small business optimism has jumped sharply and is finally back above its long term average.

But, even autopilot needs adjusting at some point.  We desperately need revamping of our tax code, trade policy, immigration policy, healthcare, etc., but have been drifting on autopilot for too long.  I pray that President Trump is more than a pompous, thin-skinned boy, who thinks he is Superman.