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A trading board on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) shows the closing numbers on February 5, 2018 in New York City. Following Fridays's over 600 point drop, the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly fell over 1500 points in afternoon trading before closing down at 1,175.21 points. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Bucking the wisdom of his predecessors--who operated on the knowledge that stock prices go up and down, all for a variety of reasons--President Donald Trump has not been shy about taking personal credit for the recent highs of the stock market, but with Monday's historic drop on Wall Street the president has many people wondering if he'll take credit (or on who he'll cast the blame).
As USA Today reports:
Traditionally, presidents have avoided patting themselves on the back for Wall Street's highs, because they don't wish to be anchored down by its lows.
As Axel Merk, president of Merk Investments, said, "Let Trump take credit, but he'll also own it should the market ever tank."
"Trump hasn't just claimed that stocks are up because of him," CNN added, "he has argued without offering proof that they would have crashed if Hillary Clinton were president."
Across social media, as the Huffington Post cataloged, countless people were making that connection rather easily after Trump went conspicuously silent on Monday as the market tanked:
According to the latest data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, only around 14 percent of all U.S. families directly own stocks or hold investments like mutual funds, which is why many astute economists issue the reminder in moments like these that "the stock market is not the economy."
On the other hand, the state of other stock indexes around the world on Tuesday--not to mention that investor jitters, inflation fears, and sell-offs can have real-world ramifications--makes it clear that there are impressive dynamics in the U.S. economy exerting pressure on the globalized system.
It is "too soon to tell" if the overall economy is heading for real trouble, wrote New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on Tuesday.
"But if we are," he noted, citing Trump and the financial team he has assembled at the Fed and within his administration, "rest assured that we'll have the worst possible people on the case."
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Bucking the wisdom of his predecessors--who operated on the knowledge that stock prices go up and down, all for a variety of reasons--President Donald Trump has not been shy about taking personal credit for the recent highs of the stock market, but with Monday's historic drop on Wall Street the president has many people wondering if he'll take credit (or on who he'll cast the blame).
As USA Today reports:
Traditionally, presidents have avoided patting themselves on the back for Wall Street's highs, because they don't wish to be anchored down by its lows.
As Axel Merk, president of Merk Investments, said, "Let Trump take credit, but he'll also own it should the market ever tank."
"Trump hasn't just claimed that stocks are up because of him," CNN added, "he has argued without offering proof that they would have crashed if Hillary Clinton were president."
Across social media, as the Huffington Post cataloged, countless people were making that connection rather easily after Trump went conspicuously silent on Monday as the market tanked:
According to the latest data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, only around 14 percent of all U.S. families directly own stocks or hold investments like mutual funds, which is why many astute economists issue the reminder in moments like these that "the stock market is not the economy."
On the other hand, the state of other stock indexes around the world on Tuesday--not to mention that investor jitters, inflation fears, and sell-offs can have real-world ramifications--makes it clear that there are impressive dynamics in the U.S. economy exerting pressure on the globalized system.
It is "too soon to tell" if the overall economy is heading for real trouble, wrote New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on Tuesday.
"But if we are," he noted, citing Trump and the financial team he has assembled at the Fed and within his administration, "rest assured that we'll have the worst possible people on the case."
Bucking the wisdom of his predecessors--who operated on the knowledge that stock prices go up and down, all for a variety of reasons--President Donald Trump has not been shy about taking personal credit for the recent highs of the stock market, but with Monday's historic drop on Wall Street the president has many people wondering if he'll take credit (or on who he'll cast the blame).
As USA Today reports:
Traditionally, presidents have avoided patting themselves on the back for Wall Street's highs, because they don't wish to be anchored down by its lows.
As Axel Merk, president of Merk Investments, said, "Let Trump take credit, but he'll also own it should the market ever tank."
"Trump hasn't just claimed that stocks are up because of him," CNN added, "he has argued without offering proof that they would have crashed if Hillary Clinton were president."
Across social media, as the Huffington Post cataloged, countless people were making that connection rather easily after Trump went conspicuously silent on Monday as the market tanked:
According to the latest data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, only around 14 percent of all U.S. families directly own stocks or hold investments like mutual funds, which is why many astute economists issue the reminder in moments like these that "the stock market is not the economy."
On the other hand, the state of other stock indexes around the world on Tuesday--not to mention that investor jitters, inflation fears, and sell-offs can have real-world ramifications--makes it clear that there are impressive dynamics in the U.S. economy exerting pressure on the globalized system.
It is "too soon to tell" if the overall economy is heading for real trouble, wrote New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on Tuesday.
"But if we are," he noted, citing Trump and the financial team he has assembled at the Fed and within his administration, "rest assured that we'll have the worst possible people on the case."