Trickle-up Economics. Trump, Growth, and Inequality

Abstract

During the first three years of the Trump administration, the U.S. economy grew steadily, and the unemployment rate fell to levels unseen since 1969. Donald Trump was swift in crediting the boon to his deregulatory policies, tax cuts, industrial protectionism and trade wars. It should be noted, however, that the economic results of the Trump administration continued in the footsteps of the Obama administration.

The continuity between the Obama and Trump administrations is also visible in the very high levels of inequality. While it’s true that inequality in the age of Trump is not a new phenomenon, the Trump administration took initiatives that have worsened an already dire situation. In particular, the introduction of the Tax Cuts and Job Act in November 2017 and the several attempts at repealing and hindering the functioning of Obamacare, contributed to increasingly skewed income, health, and racial inequality.

The Covid pandemic and the massive sanitary and economic emergency that swept the United States functioned as a stress test for specific policies implemented by the Trump administration. In particular, the pandemic works as a magnifier of many inequalities, especially the racial divide that still haunts the United States.

Keywords: Donald Trump, Inequality, Covid-19, Obamacare, Tax Cuts Act