How much influence does a sitting President have over the economy?

How much influence does a sitting President have over the economy?

Please note that the question is generic and applies equally to ALL Presidents.

Quite a bit through EOs and executive department, agency and program rule making. Yet to make any lasting changes (things that the next POTUS can't simply undo) then they need the cooperation of congress critters. That seems to be closest to option #3 in the poll.

This is a really tough and complicated question because there are so many variables. Depends on the administration, their ideals, policies they've pushed, how the market does independent of the administration, who controls Congress, what laws are they proposing/passing, etc. I would say that typically, a President and his administration has had an overall small impact on the economy w/ some exceptions.

Of course, in politics we don't ever see it that way. We either place all blame or give all credit to a President depending on our political affiliation.

hard to say but Trump has been implying that the recent 4K jump in the DJI index since his election is all about the Donald (Duck) ............

radcen said:

How much influence does a sitting President have over the economy?

Please note that the question is generic and applies equally to ALL Presidents.

Click to expand...

He is responsible for structuring the property rights, taxes and markets to optimise economic activities and be sure to not to allow the populatiin force government to produce private goods.

A TON.

Why?

Because the POTUS is the one who controls who sits on the Federal Reserve and who does not. And the Fed - more than any other single entity - has the most influence on the American economy.
It can cut/raise rates, stimulate the stock market through QE (which it still is doing - even though they do not call it QE anymore), buy stocks directly/indirectly (as the Japanese Central Bank has been doing for years), print a trillion dollars and dump it into the economy (through various means) and even buy out almost any publicly traded company/corporation they wish (providing enough stock is available) as the Fed did when it bought out huge AIG during the crisis. All without anyone's initial approval.
The Fed is INCREDIBLY powerful economically.

Obama (and to an extent GWB) stacked the Fed with Doves and so it has been pouring money and cheap rates into the economy for many years. Trump - rightly - threatened to force out the Doves and stack the Fed with Hawks. But - like most of his campaign promises on the economy - he chickened out on and is now publicly liking (sort of) what the Fed is doing.

Other than the Fed, the POTUS (IMO) can do many things economically. But other than starting a war - none are remotely as powerful at controlling the economy as the Fed.

What a President can do, is inspire people and make a good business environment.

A president can also execute laws that can strike fear in the market place, the true consequences of the laws passed by the president will most likely never be able to be determined, because it could happen over a 50 year period... or 8 year period...

A president is almost never responsible for a recession, but they can have some small influence on how the economic recovery is based on their policies which can make the nations markets more optimistic or not .


short answer, A small amount....

Depends on too many factors to give a generic answer. The president has more influence later in their administration than earlier. How much the president has done matters. And so on and so forth.

radcen said:

How much influence does a sitting President have over the economy?

Please note that the question is generic and applies equally to ALL Presidents.

Click to expand...

Well, it's fair to say he has quite a bit of influence over at least 1/5th of the economy. His daily rants about the health markets blowing up and threatening to withhold CSR payments have caused such instability that my health care provider has canceled all individual plans in most of my state, including that of yours truly. So yeah, at the end of the year I won't be covered anymore. Also, the costs of Mrs. Cardinal's individual plan is increasing by 14%, but at least she gets to keep her plan.

I think Trump has had a significant influence in the up tick in the economy. Much of it has to do with overturning burdensome regulations. Sure he did them with his pen but the stock market and consumer confidence took a big leap because of it. And every person with a 401 k and an IRA the last couple of months smiled at their statements on the gains they received after 10 long years of meager gains and big loses.
Also because Trump exited the Paris Climate Accord, well that just rocked the stock market in a very good way.

radcen said:

How much influence does a sitting President have over the economy?

Please note that the question is generic and applies equally to ALL Presidents.

Click to expand...

He should have some influence on it but mostly it takes a long time before a president is able to do good for the economy but sadly screwing up an economy is a lot easier sadly.

Last week Trump said:

Trump, July 31: "We have a GDP, on Friday — it got very little mention, although I guess in the business areas it did. But it got, I think, very little mention. 2.6 is a number that nobody thought they’d see for a long period of time. Remember, I was saying we will hit three at some point in the not-too-distant future, and everybody smiled and they laughed and they thought we’d be at one. And 2.6 is an unbelievable number, announced on Friday."

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And 2.6 is not that bad but just a decent number, nothing more IMHO. It just depends on who is commenting on those figures, Trump is very proud of them, even though he may just had minimal effects on that number. But I think if Obama had presented a number like that Trump would have sad it was a very bad number. Because that is how partisan politics works and that is also how people will view economic numbers no matter what.

But it is true IMHO that it is easier for a president to worsen an economic crisis than it is to solve it but a lot of influence comes from stock markets and stuff like subprime mortgage crash during a time of not great policies by either congress or the president.

radcen said:

How much influence does a sitting President have over the economy?

Please note that the question is generic and applies equally to ALL Presidents.

Click to expand...

Let's see, Reagan did some good, but the old trickle down didn't hold up and Clinton shut down the Government to get a fiscally responsible budget out of them and head a surplus and boom. Bush gave away big tax break for the housing bubble and economic crisis for which both Parties are equally responsible except that Bush was President. Obama given a crest of a Great Depression got Bush and Congress to make bailout and stimulus enough for slow growth and nothing Obama could do would make it grow any faster because the first items are minimum wage, highways bill and filibustered measures.

I'm sorry that Obama said Obamacare was only a stepping stone to socialized medicine because they didn't have to let the Republicans put in more profits for people.

Obama handed over a growing situation, though troubled with debt, health care costs, immigration, terrorism and environmental problems.

So far President Trump has the ship on course, this may change if they pass tax reform or don't fix Obamacare.

radcen said:

How much influence does a sitting President have over the economy?

Please note that the question is generic and applies equally to ALL Presidents.

Click to expand...

I always tended to belief the economy is a lot like the weather. If a president could control the economy there would be nothing but up times. The fact there is so many ups and downs, shows you the president doesn't have a whole lot of control. What a president can do is make the economy as business friendly as possible. Then too if the people feel any president is doing the right things to make the economy better, that feeling can translate into an improving economy.

Probably the best thing a president can do is let business know what is around the corner. What plans the government has for business in the form of regulations, taxes, etc. Adding or subtracting these things can spur investment and even bring cash home from overseas. It can also induce spending. If a president can get the people to believe the economy is improving or thriving, most times it will.

I am one of those who believes the economy has its natural cycles, just like the weather. A president may be able to adjust the landing in a bad economy from a hard one to a softer one. He may even prolong a recession depending on what he attempts to do. Bottom line, if a president or government could control or heavily influence the economy, it would be all good times with no bad.

radcen said:

How much influence does a sitting President have over the economy?

Please note that the question is generic and applies equally to ALL Presidents.

Click to expand...

I voted A major portion, but only if they have Congress on their side. However, I don't think it is major in nature, and that what influence there is must be combined with Congressional legislative actions and the result can either be pro-growth, anti-growth, or stabilizing and neutral in nature. Also, I agree with the use of the term influence, rather than any other term. The President cannot control the economy, only influence it.