Hello @zuerich,
I very much appreciate your comment, as my post was intended to provoke thought about broad generalizations broadcast before the election.
I am not an economist. I turn to 'experts' to explain why something is happening, or happened. As you say: "In my opinion, judging a President by the state of the economy during his term is not correct. It's impossible to say, a posteriori, what measure caused what effect and how much exactly".
Obama took us out of the Bank debacle, and Biden took us out of the pandemic recession.
The following charts show G7 comparison of GDP through Obama, Trump and Biden and G7 recovery to 2011
This is one metric--a crude indication of economic health. All that it proves is my point: Under Biden the economy was not a disaster. And under Trump it was not booming.
As for regulations. These may have an impact on the pace of economic growth. However, there is an argument to be made for regulations. People die because of air pollution. People die because of industrial accidents. That is a cost. Sickness has an economic cost. A compromised youth, increased cancer rates--these have economic costs. During the Industrial Revolution in 19th century UK, economic growth soared, but so did diseases associated with that unchecked--unregulated--growth.
Another statistic that I did not cover was the loss of health insurance under Trump. Also, I cannot gloss over the pandemic. I was at the epicenter of that surge in New York. I lost friends. These were not numbers they were people. Each life lost was precious. Trump knew about the pandemic at least in January. He was warned by Navarro that it would be a national security crisis. He did nothing. His inaction led to loss of life. We were not prepared, psychologically or technically for the surge when it came. My friend Myron died in April. Maybe if he had been warned, if knew what was out there, he might have taken precautions appropriate for his age. Maybe the hospital would have been better equipped to treat him.
Israel, Palestinians, Iran, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria....sorting the Middle East. I don't have sufficient command of the facts on the ground to make a useful statement. I do have some opinions: October 7 slaughter was an unthinkable human calamity.I'm editing this, because I don't think I emphasized how dastardly I find the Hamas terrorists who killed, destroyed and kidnapped. They were unbelievably brutal, inhuman. But Netanyahu dropped the ball. That is the opinion of the Israeli public. And I don't think he can bomb his way back to legitimacy. Palestinians are an oozing soar in the heart of the Moslem world. As much as being a physical reality, they are an idea that motivates radicalism and terrorism in the region. Every child that is killed becomes a martyr in the region.
As long as there are state actors who will support the Palestinians, there will be no peace in the Middle East. And there will always be state actors because the Moslem world is behind the idea of the Palestinians. Peace in the Middle East, I believe, means finding a way to live in peace with Palestinians.
What is that way? I don't know.
My biggest argument against Trump, however, is the fact that he is more than willing to break the law and violate the Constitution. He asserts as much. This is antithetical to the idea of the United States. We are an imperfect country. But through our imperfections we have always given lip service, at least, to the principles of the Constitution. Once that is gone, what are we?
Thank you again for responding. I've tried to give as full a response as your comment warrants.