When Donald Trump claims great credit for a booming economy, as with most topics and issues, he is lying. The two huge holes in his assertion ate: (1) the economy is NOT doing that well, and (2) his actions and policies have NOTHING to do with the fact that the stock market is doing so well.

Trump inherited a strong overall economy. However, his tariffs have deeply hurt American farmers and raised prices for all American consumers. . And, his abject failure in dealing with the COVID 19 virus has hurt almost every sector of the economy – small businesses, agriculture, and manufacturing particularly. Again the effect is raising prices for consumers.

Actually, the Federal Reserve Board deserves the entire credit for how well the stock market is doing. Their actions over the past several years to keep interest rates at historically levels means During that time the FRB has kept interest rates well below the rate of inflation. That means that anyone investing in savings accounts and municipal bonds has lost in the real value of money adjusted for inflation. The money that would been invested in those has largely gone into the stock market seeking a possible higher rate of return. That has produced a sellers’ market, driving yup stock prices artificially.

Trump deserves ZERO credit for the stock market gains. If the (1) Federal Reserve had kept interest rates 1.0 higher than the rate of inflation -- the level required for investors to make any money from savings and many bonds rational policy ), and (2) given the negative effects of Trump’s policies, I would estimate that the Dow – Jones would be well below 15,000 today and perhaps at low as 10,000.