A Wall Street Journal
editorial today offered up some exciting economic facts. Here are a few salient excerpts from the column:
- The median household income in 2019 grew a whopping 6.8% — the largest annual increase on record. While this year’s government-ordered lockdowns will erase these gains in the short term at least, it’s still worth highlighting how lower-income workers and minorities benefited from faster growth and a tighter labor market before the pandemic.
- Real median U.S. household income last year rose by $4,379 to $68,709. In dollar amounts, this is nearly 50% more than during the eight years of Barack Obama’s Presidency.
- Median household incomes increased more among Hispanics (7.1%), blacks (7.9%), Asians (10.6%) and foreign-born workers (8.5%) versus whites (5.7%) and native-born Americans (6.2%).
- Median earnings increased by an astounding 7.8% for women compared to 2.5% for men.
- Poverty fell 1.3 percentage points last year to 10.5%, the lowest level since 1959, and declined more for blacks (2 percentage points), Hispanics (1.8), Asians (2.8), single mothers (2.6), people with a disability (3.2), and no high-school diploma (2.2).
- The black (18.8%) and Hispanic (15.7%) poverty rates were the lowest in history.
- The child poverty rate also declined to 14.4% from 16.2% in 2018 and 18% in 2016. The decline in childhood poverty last year was nearly twice as much as during the entire Obama Presidency.
What was the engine driving this outstanding economic news? The WSJ editors credit the economic policies put in place by the Trump administration:
These income gains weren’t magical. Policy changes mattered. The Obama Administration’s obsession with income redistribution and regulation retarded business investment and economic growth. This in turn led to slower income growth for most Americans.
Business investment and hiring increased amid the Trump Administration’s deregulation and the GOP’s 2017 tax reform that unleashed animal spirits. New business applications increased twice as much during the first two years of the Trump Presidency versus the last two Obama years.
Rising economic growth lifted all classes. The record of his first three years are why voters still give President Trump an edge over Joe Biden on the economy.
Their conclusion is crucially important for undecided voters to consider:
The pandemic will eventually end, and the labor market is recovering faster than expected. The question for Americans on Nov. 3 is what kind of economy they want to have on the other side. The Trump policy mix lifted wages for all and reduced inequality. The Obama-Biden policy mix that put income redistribution first led to slower growth and more inequality.
Many liberal Democrats and Independents insist that their primary concern is for the economic well-being and future of the nation's poor, but if they're sincere, why would they not vote to continue the historically unprecedented progress that's resulted from the policies of the last three years?
