Wall Street had its worst-performing day in over a decade on Monday, due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus across the globe as well as an OPEC agreement that fell apart with Russia.
To put into perspective how devastating the market’s performance has been since the “coronavirus recession” started last month, consider this:
President Donald Trump’s signature economic package — large tax breaks for the wealthy and for corporations as well — passed Congress and was signed into law in December 2017. It wasn’t implemented into the tax code until the following month.
Since no other huge reforms occurred before that time, several economists agree that the economy that was created under former President Barack Obama continued to operate well-into 2017. The passage of the Trump tax cuts are a good place to start when it comes to measuring the “Trump Economy.”
From the last trading day of December 2017 to February 12, 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average went up by more than 4,800 points. Since February 12 to the closing bell on Monday, however, the DJIA dropped by more than 5,700 points, losing all of those gains (and then some).
About a third of those total losses happened on Monday alone.
BREAKING: Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down more than 2,000 points, its worst point drop ever on record; S&P 500 and Nasdaq plunge more than 7%https://t.co/RCpsAOBl6g pic.twitter.com/jgq1bEDkbL
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) March 9, 2020
That means all the gains, all the ups-and-downs, through government shutdowns, and other wild events of the Trump administration — and, for all of bragging Trump has made about the stock market’s performance under his watch and about having the “best economy ever” — all of that was gone in less than one day.
If that doesn’t showcase to you how weak the “Trump Economy” truly was (and is), then I don’t know what else can.
It also demonstrates that, when an economic crisis does occur, there’s little-to-no confidence in the markets for Trump to fix it. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi put it best, speaking to reporters on Monday about the “coronavirus recession” — and about how much we should be pointing the finger at Trump right now for it.
“I believe, what we know about the Dow is that they want certainty, they want to have confidence that there is a plan,” Pelosi said, per reporting from ABC News.
“I think that what is happening there is a reflection of lack of confidence, and so we would hope that what is coming out of the White House will be more consistent with what the health advisers are putting forth,” she added.
This mini-recession, if it goes on for longer, is particularly disastrous for Trump’s political futures. On almost every subject that polling has asked, the president’s approval rating has been in negative territory — except when it comes to the economy.
If Wall Street continues to tumble, and as that translates into the 401Ks of workers across the nation taking hard hits, this “strength” of Trump’s, as far as the electorate goes, will likely vanish or, at the very least, be challenged by whomever the Democrats select for their presidential nominee.