Because this has come up, once again: Presidents get too much credit (or blame) for econ conditions. But Trump wants to compare his economy to Obama's so fine, let's do it. Bottom line: On most major measures, Trump's economy is not appreciably different from Obama's. /1
On GDP growth: We spend $2T on an unfunded tax cut for the rich to get us all the way back to...almost exactly the same GDP growth rate we averaged in Obama's 2nd term, when fiscal conditions were tighter. 
Of course, Trump promised us 4, 5, 6% GDP growth. He has blamed the Fed's interest rate hikes for his failure to deliver on GDP, but rates today are actually *lower* than the Trump admin expected they'd be when making their spectacular growth claims. /3
On jobs: Employment growth was actually slightly weaker under first 37 months of Trump than it was under last 37 months of Obama (182k vs 220k, respectively). But not terribly different. /4
Unemployment is very low (a good thing!) but it's basically been falling in a straight line for the past decade. Show me on this chart where you see a sudden discontinuity when Trump took office. Accommodative Fed probably deserves much of the credit for continued UR decline /5
Wage growth, once you account for inflation, was slightly higher under last 37 months of Obama than under first 37 months of Trump. But still pretty meh for both /6
Trump surrogates tout higher wage growth for lowest earners. But far as I can tell the numbers they usually cite are Atl Fed #s, which are nominal (i.e., not inflation-adjusted). If you adjust for inflation numbers were slightly better at end of Obama tenure than under Trump. /7
Recent state/local min wage increases likely accounted for a portion of wage growth at the bottom in recent years. But tighter job market obviously is major contributor. /8 washingtonpost.com/business/2020/…
What about stock markets? S&P 500 is up about 49% since Trump took office. At the same point in Obama's presidency, the index was up 59%. (Repeating my disclaimer: Just as presidents don't control the economy, they also don't control the stock market.) /9
Also stock prices=claim on after-tax profits. Trump cut corp taxes. This means their after-tax profits shd rise even if they don’t expand, become more efficient, make other pre-tax changes.
So of course stock prices should go up! If they didn’t, something would be very wrong. /10
So of course stock prices should go up! If they didn’t, something would be very wrong. /10
Some other recent measures are worrying. E.g. business investment -- the mechanism by which the Trump tax cut was supposed to supercharge GDP growth -- has instead been contracting for the past 3 quarters. Perhaps related to Trump trade wars/uncertainty. /11
None of this is to say the economy isn't good. It is! Trends just aren't so different from what they looked like under Obama. But we already knew Trump's specialty is sticking his name on something someone else built -- whether a hotel in Istanbul, or an economy he inherited /12
