One of the biggest middle-class success stories in modern times is a testament to the Trump tax, regulatory and energy policies, writes economist Stephen Moore.
(The) latest income numbers also squarely contradict the claims by Democratic presidential candidates:
- Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, claim that all the gains from the Trump economy have gone to the rich and large corporations.
- Warren claimed earlier this year that workers had to work “two or three or four jobs” just to keep their incomes from falling.
In The Atlantic, staff writer Derek Thompson plays a game he calls “wish-casting.”
- Imagine a world where wage growth was truly stagnant only for workers in high-wage industries, such as medicine and consulting.
- Imagine a labor market where earnings growth for low-wage workers, such as those who work in retail and restaurants, had doubled in the past five years.
- Imagine an economy where wages for the poorest Americans were rising twice as fast as hourly earnings for high-wage earners.
Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Goldman Sachs found growth for the bottom half of earners was at its highest rate of the cycle, reports Mr. Thompson.
And even among that bottom half, the biggest gains are going to workers earning the least. A New York Times analysis of data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta found that wage growth among the lowest 25 percent of earners had exceeded the growth in every other quartile.
Democrats don’t want to talk about low-income wage growth, because it feels too close to saying, “Good things can happen while Trump is president”; and Republicans don’t want to talk about the reason behind it, because it’s dangerously close to saying, “Our singular fixation with corporate-tax rates is foolish and Keynes was right.”
Middle-Class Incomes Surge Under Trump Policies
The latest Census Bureau Current Population Survey data now show that middle-class incomes, after adjusting for inflation, have surged by $5,003 since Donald Trump became president in January 2017, continues Stephen Moore.
Median household income has now reached $65,976 – an all-time high and up more than 8 percent in 2019 dollars under the Trump presidency.
Read more here.
Steve Moore: Trump’s Middle-Class Economic Progress Growing
If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.