Say what?

I keep hearing from Trump's defenders something like, "well, the economy is going well".  As if that would justify the racism, xenophobia, daily lying, obstruction of justice, war on science, destruction of the environment, corporate cronyism, and massive debt for future generations of tax payers.  But, here is what I don't get:  the economy is more or less doing exactly what it was doing under Obama, so why are people excusing Trump because of the economy?  I didn't ever hear Fox praising the economy under Obama. Ever.

Full disclosure, I have long believed we way over credit POTUS for the economy's performance. My point here is in response to the "Trump is making the economy great" argument.

I can show you in a few graphs.

When people think about the economy,  they will often use one or more of the following:

1. The Stock Market
2. Unemployment Rate
3. Real GDP growth
4. Job creation

So, I decided to take a look at these under Bush, Obama, and Trump.

First, the S&P500.  The graph here is log of the index because with equities, it is relative change that matters.  To see this, here is the log of the S&P500 going back to 1964:



You can see the .com bubble and the crash of 2008 pretty easily.  But let's look more closely at recent history:





If it looks to you like there is a difference in what has happened so far under Trump, and what had been happening under Obama,  I don't know what you are looking at.

Next, unemployment:
 



So, yes, it "all time low" as Trump keeps tweeting. But again, it looks to me like a continuation of what was happening under Obama.

How about Real GDP growth?





Again, I see no "Trump magic", do you?

Finally, let's look at job creation:

More "Trump magic"

Of perhaps the magic is that his followers believe that the blue is better than the green?



My sources of data at Yahoo Finance, BLS and BEA.
 

Gun Debate

Taking it off FB for now. I welcome dialogue here. Dialogue, no name calling. And no need to get the last word. But I will start with what I believe is true.

• The proliferation of guns and easy gun access in America is directly related to 

1. More homicides
2. More suicides
3. More accidental shooting

• The notion that high levels of civilian gun ownership is what keeps us free from tyranny is false.
• The NRA serves gun manufacturers and gun dealers much like the Tobacco Institute served the tobacco industry.
•  I have every right to be angry with our unwillingness deal with our gun problem, our denial that there even is a problem or that the "problem" has nothing to do with guns. This is bullshit*.
•  I am frustrated by false dichotomy:  the notion that if you think there is a gun problem, then you must be in favor of banning all guns.  Also bullshit*.

Here is a thought experiment for you:  I propose that, at any car or truck owner's discretion, a machine gun be mounted on the roof of their car.  It can be operated by the driver via a heads up display.  This would (by logic I have heard over and over and over again)

• Reduce road rage violence
• Make driving safer
• Protect us from over zealous cops

Get my drift?

*If you don't think it's bullshit, state your case.

The two biggest reasons I am voting Hillary, and you should too.

I am going to keep this short because I know these days everyone is very tired of all the politics. Though, no one can say this election is usual, by any standard.

As an over-arch, let me state that the biggest malaise of American politics is that the attribute of "likability" ( or more perversely, "dislikability") has become the gold standard for whether someone deserves (or does not deserve) your vote. That is a terrible criterion. You don't have to like them; you need to have the person in charge who gives us the best chance for success - and the least chance of catastrophic failure. Having said that, and admitting that we are faced with two "unlikable" candidates, this is exactly why I will vote for Hillary. And it's not close.

1) Regardless of left or right, there is only one candidate who has a very high probability of steering the ship directly into the rocks, and it is not Hillary Clinton. And I do not have to explain this assertion. I could try, but I will not insult you by explaining it. You know I am right.

2) If we elect Trump, it will embolden and reinforce some of the worst America has to offer: Racism, Misogyny, and Xenophobia (and then some but I want to keep this short). If you think today that the alt-right is coming out of the closet (so to speak), just wait until Trump wins. If you don't fear that element becoming even more emboldened and main streamed, you are not paying attention.

Yes, I have more reasons, but if you planning to vote for Trump, I figure my other reasons don't matter to you. And if neither of the above do, it says more about you than it does about Hillary Clinton.