There was no shortage of wailing and gnashing of teeth the night that Donald Trump won election in 2016. Leftists ripped their proverbial robes when Hillary Clinton lost…lost! The horror! Then the predictions of doom began to thunder across the fruited plain. What Americans had wrought was going to be their own demise!

At least Cassandra was right

In Greek mythology Cassandra was a woman cursed with the ability to foretell doom for which no one would listen to her. The Greek god Apollo gave her the gift of prophecy to seduce her, but when she refused his advances, he added the curse that no one would ever believe her.

In the days following the election of Donald Trump, the process went into reverse. Leftist economic forecasters imagined catastrophic woes which many believed, none of which have come true. In fact, quite the opposite has.

The Weekly Standard reports that a new book out by Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer called “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy” shows how economic growth under Trump has come by systematically reversing the panoply of wrongheaded policies by the Obama Administration. “The entire Obama economic agenda was “systematically reversed,” says Moore.

Whereas Obama raised taxes and regulation at every turn, the Trump Administration has dismantled those policies. Obama came to expect 2 percent annual growth as the new norm, much as President Carter in the late 1970s seemed to accept languid growth as a sign that America’s best days were behind. Indeed, the last year of the Obama presidency, growth slipped to 1.5 percent.

After the Trump surprise, left wing forecasters…as though 1.5 percent was a good thing…predicted cataclysm with a Trump Presidency.

Consistent though not honest

The Standard quotes these liberals in their predictions about Trump, and it’s amusing:

“We are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight. I suppose we could get lucky somehow. But on economics, as on everything else, a terrible thing has just happened.” Paul Krugman, Nobel winner and New York Times columnist.

“Under Trump, I would expect a protracted recession to begin within 18 months. The damage would be felt far beyond the United States.” Larry Summers, former Harvard president and Treasury secretary.

“President Trump could destroy the world economy.” Washington Post editorial.

“Trump’s budget assumes 3% annual growth. . . . That’s extremely unlikely.” Jason Furman, chairman of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.

“If Trump thinks he can get more than 3% growth, he’s dreaming.” Michael Hiltzik, Pulitzer-winning economics writer for the Los Angeles Times.

All of these reverse Cassandras proved wrong. Trump and Republican Congress have produced 4.2 percent growth this year and jobs are booming. How do these guys get Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, anyhow?

The real threat isn’t Trump

As we’ve been noting here the real threat to economic growth is the continual ratcheting up of interest rates of which the markets seemed to have finally sat up and taken notice of late. Nevertheless, an economy strengthened by the Trump Administration will fare much better than it would have under anemic liberal Obama policies continued by Hillary Clinton.

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