Not in the least did you. Krugman style economics we just went through for 8 years... worst recovery ever
Considering the depths of the downturn, how it savaged credit markets, how the global was hit, and that it hit at a time when Americans were ill prepared for a crisis? It was about as good a recovery as the US was going to get.
highest debt load ever...
...due to policies Krugman opposed, such as cutting taxes (primarily on the wealthy) while waging 2 wars. That's just nuts.
BZZT wrong, effective tax rates are below levels from the 1980s and 2000s, and the only tax increases during the Obama years were on the wealthy -- whose statutory levels are a fraction of that in the 80s, and effective rates are also down a few points since then.
worst level of unemployed...
BZZZT also wrong, unemployment was
far worse during the Great Depression, and higher in 1982; and unlike most recessions, unemployment was exceptionally low before it hit.
And again: It was the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. Anyone who expects unemployment -- always a trailing indicator -- to return to normal in six weeks is an absolute idiot.
LFPR is at its lowest point since the 1960s. However, LFPR started dropping in
2001, several years before the recession hit, and is due to factors such as people getting more education, women staying at home to take care of kids, and people retiring. Very little of the drop in LFPR is linked to cyclical factors.
Trump and team are going in a direction that is the antithesis of the Krugman line of economics.
Yes, in the sense that they are proposing an idiotic mess that will only benefit the wealthy.
• They seem to be proposing huge tax cuts for high income earners, and almost nothing for everyone else
• The cuts will undoubtedly increase the deficit, as did Bush 43's cuts
• Trump plans to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure, potentially at a time when we don't actually need the stimulus, which means it may spark inflation which in turn will erode any wage gains
• Trump may still engage in protectionist measures, which will whack the American economy at the knees; e.g. it will cut exports (which generates over $2 trillion in economic activity per year), and currency changes that result from the loss of imports will make the dollar stronger, and in turn encourage... more imports
We'll see where we are at the end of the Trump admin.
Some of us will. But chances are, you won't believe it if the results turn out badly for Trump.
Look at Kansas. Brownback slashed state taxes, in an exceptionally inept way. As a result, Kansas didn't grow faster than its neighbors; didn't reduce unemployment more than its neighbors; and has triggered year after year of fiscal crises, as tax revenues repeatedly fall below estimates. They've had to cut spending to the bone, slash educational spending, raided their highway funding, and decimated their rainy day fund. And people
still refuse to accept that cutting taxes caused any problems.