Majority of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy for the first time: CNBC survey

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/25/majority-of-americans-approve-of-trumps-handling-of-the-economy.html

[bcking 3,157]

Smarter minds than mine on this topic have commented consistently on these forums how little the President has to do with the economy.

 

I imagine a survey asking an average American to "approve or disapprove" of a President's "handling" of the economy is likely going to run into problems where people end up answering the question "Do you approve of the current economy" and not really understanding the difference.

 

"Handling of the economy" in general is a rather nebulous phrase. I doubt the survey has been validated.

[Dashinka 23,375]

1 minute ago, bcking said:

Smarter minds than mine on this topic have commented consistently on these forums how little the President has to do with the economy.

 

I imagine a survey asking an average American to "approve or disapprove" of a President's "handling" of the economy is likely going to run into problems where people end up answering the question "Do you approve of the current economy" and not really understanding the difference.

 

"Handling of the economy" in general is a rather nebulous phrase. I doubt the survey has been validated.

I am sure the survey/poll hasn't been validated, what political poll has been other than the one that counts.  Regardless of that and the fact that the president has little real influence of the economy, this is an opinion poll which will simply follow the economic opinion of the people being surveyed and give that credit or discredit to POTUS. 

 

 

[Steeleballz 7,550]

 

   Let's see how it holds up after a few months of tariffs. I hear China and the EU are targeting states where it will hit Trump's base the hardest.

[bcking 3,157]

1 minute ago, Bill & Katya said:

I am sure the survey/poll hasn't been validated, what political poll has been other than the one that counts.  Regardless of that and the fact that the president has little real influence of the economy, this is an opinion poll which will simply follow the economic opinion of the people being surveyed and give that credit or discredit to POTUS. 

 

 

Absolutely. I know polls like this occur in every administration and they are all equally flawed, since the question is murky and probably very easily interpreted in multiple ways by many average Americans. Just worth the reminder whenever these come up  

 

As for my opinion - I think he's done really two primary things "for the economy". His tax reform, and now his trade tariffs. I approve of one (tax reform) and disapprove of the other (trade tariffs). I guess that means I end up in the middle?

 

(As an aside - Probably even "the one that counts" has been technically validated, though the question is written in such a way that you can hopefully assume everyone interprets the same way. Though I guess we've had issues with Florida in the past...)

[bcking 3,157]

3 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   Let's see how it holds up after a few months of tariffs. I hear China and the EU are targeting states where it will hit Trump's base the hardest.

I've read some analysis of Canada's tariffs as well, which make them seem more targeted than I original realized. 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/steel-tariff-maple-syrup-toilet-paper-1.4686833

 

e.g.

Chocolate -> Hershey's -> Pennsylvania (Inasmuch as Hershey's is actually Chocolate, which is questionable )

Orange Juice -> Florida

Edited June 25, 2018 by bcking

[Dashinka 23,375]

3 minutes ago, bcking said:

Absolutely. I know polls like this occur in every administration and they are all equally flawed, since the question is murky and probably very easily interpreted in multiple ways by many average Americans. Just worth the reminder whenever these come up  

 

As for my opinion - I think he's done really two primary things "for the economy". His tax reform, and now his trade tariffs. I approve of one (tax reform) and disapprove of the other (trade tariffs). I guess that means I end up in the middle?

 

(As an aside - Probably even "the one that counts" has been technically validated, though the question is written in such a way that you can hopefully assume everyone interprets the same way. Though I guess we've had issues with Florida in the past...)

In this I agree with you.  I was in favor of the tax cuts and against tariffs.  It was interesting, I heard that Trump quipped about a world with no tariffs.  Wouldn't that be nice!

[jg121783 3,908]

19 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   Let's see how it holds up after a few months of tariffs. I hear China and the EU are targeting states where it will hit Trump's base the hardest.

It's about time we do something to counter the massive tariffs almost every country in the world has on us. I know some people have no problem allowing the rest of the world (especially China) to walk all over us with one sided trade deals. That's the attitude that allowed our manufacturing base to be destroyed. Is it a perfect solution? No. But we have to do something to turn the situation around. Did you know for example that before this all started Canada had over a 200% tariff on our dairy goods and we had no tariff on theirs. In what world is that fair trade?

[Steeleballz 7,550]

4 hours ago, jg121783 said:

It's about time we do something to counter the massive tariffs almost every country in the world has on us. I know some people have no problem allowing the rest of the world (especially China) to walk all over us with one sided trade deals. That's the attitude that allowed our manufacturing base to be destroyed. Is it a perfect solution? No. But we have to do something to turn the situation around. Did you know for example that before this all started Canada had over a 200% tariff on our dairy goods and we had no tariff on theirs. In what world is that fair trade?

 

  The tariff is on unfiltered milk, not dairy goods. Most other dairy goods are covered under NAFTA. Unfiltered milk is not addressed, being a relatively new product. 

 

  Since unfiltered milk was not covered under NAFTA, it allowed US exporters to export it duty free and it also allowed the Canadian government to place taxes on it. Whether fair or not, I wouldn't really hold this as a good example of trade imbalance to start a trade war around. The Canadian dairy industry is highly regulated on the supply side. They don't over produce or export unfiltered milk to the USA. The US dairy industry is not supply regulated and when milk price was high, overproduction began to occur. Canada doesn't want cheap US milk anymore than the US wants cheap Canadian lumber. The inherent problem is the over production of milk, and the same scenario with milk is actually playing out all around the world.

 

  I agree with you on China, they are far and away a different beast in international trade. As I said before, we needed to address China, and we may have been able to outlast China in isolation.  I don't think going against our G7 partners was a good strategy for taking on China and put's us in a worse position to come out on top. The USA is better built than most other countries to survive an isolated trade war, but we are not built to take on the whole world at the same time. 

 

   

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

I have purposely not said much when it comes to the tax break and tariff discussions (more so the tariffs than taxes, because I understand taxes far more).

 

But I have been hoping that this tariff thing by Trump is him playing the long game.  I could well be wrong, as I have indicated, I know little about tariffs and foreign trade.  My bad, just not interesting to me.  But we will have to wait years, and perhaps well past the time he is gone to see if it was a good or bad move, I am afraid.  I know most of you on here smarter than I are against the tariff moves, and I defer to your knowledge and disapproval, but a tiny part of me hopes he is being the hard-nosed businessman, and not a politician in this matter.  He has had much success in business.  But... OTWT.

[bcking 3,157]

16 minutes ago, IDWAF said:

I have purposely not said much when it comes to the tax break and tariff discussions (more so the tariffs than taxes, because I understand taxes far more).

 

But I have been hoping that this tariff thing by Trump is him playing the long game.  I could well be wrong, as I have indicated, I know little about tariffs and foreign trade.  My bad, just not interesting to me.  But we will have to wait years, and perhaps well past the time he is gone to see if it was a good or bad move, I am afraid.  I know most of you on here smarter than I are against the tariff moves, and I defer to your knowledge and disapproval, but a tiny part of me hopes he is being the hard-nosed businessman, and not a politician in this matter.  He has had much success in business.  But... OTWT.

I think it is definitely on a "risk vs reward" spectrum. If countries continue to call the bluff, I think it's less likely to be successful in the long term.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

20 minutes ago, bcking said:

I think it is definitely on a "risk vs reward" spectrum. If countries continue to call the bluff, I think it's less likely to be successful in the long term.

Trouble is, there is SO MUCH debt bandied about by all nations that it is way beyond my ability to comprehend, my micro and macro economic courses notwithstanding.  And it will likely never go away.  We owe so much, and “they” owe us so much.  It’s wacko.

[jg121783 3,908]

10 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  The tariff is on unfiltered milk, not dairy goods. Most other dairy goods are covered under NAFTA. Unfiltered milk is not addressed, being a relatively new product. 

 

  Since unfiltered milk was not covered under NAFTA, it allowed US exporters to export it duty free and it also allowed the Canadian government to place taxes on it. Whether fair or not, I wouldn't really hold this as a good example of trade imbalance to start a trade war around. The Canadian dairy industry is highly regulated on the supply side. They don't over produce or export unfiltered milk to the USA. The US dairy industry is not supply regulated and when milk price was high, overproduction began to occur. Canada doesn't want cheap US milk anymore than the US wants cheap Canadian lumber. The inherent problem is the over production of milk, and the same scenario with milk is actually playing out all around the world.

 

  I agree with you on China, they are far and away a different beast in international trade. As I said before, we needed to address China, and we may have been able to outlast China in isolation.  I don't think going against our G7 partners was a good strategy for taking on China and put's us in a worse position to come out on top. The USA is better built than most other countries to survive an isolated trade war, but we are not built to take on the whole world at the same time. 

 

   

Maybe not currently but we have been in that position in the past and we have the resources and manpower to get to that point again in time. Does this country have the will and determination to do it again is the question I don't have the answer to.

 

6 hours ago, IDWAF said:

I have purposely not said much when it comes to the tax break and tariff discussions (more so the tariffs than taxes, because I understand taxes far more).

 

But I have been hoping that this tariff thing by Trump is him playing the long game.  I could well be wrong, as I have indicated, I know little about tariffs and foreign trade.  My bad, just not interesting to me.  But we will have to wait years, and perhaps well past the time he is gone to see if it was a good or bad move, I am afraid.  I know most of you on here smarter than I are against the tariff moves, and I defer to your knowledge and disapproval, but a tiny part of me hopes he is being the hard-nosed businessman, and not a politician in this matter.  He has had much success in business.  But... OTWT.

I think the whole point of the tariffs is to try to get other countries to be reasonable with their tariffs. It's real simple. If they drop their tariffs we will drop ours. It's not a perfect solution but it is better than what we have been doing to address the issue over the last couple decades which is absolutely nothing. 

 

5 hours ago, IDWAF said:

Trouble is, there is SO MUCH debt bandied about by all nations that it is way beyond my ability to comprehend, my micro and macro economic courses notwithstanding.  And it will likely never go away.  We owe so much, and “they” owe us so much.  It’s wacko.

The debt is the issue that trumps everything. There are basically only 2 ways to address it. Take in more money or spend less money. We may need a combination of both but I would go heavier on the latter option.

[Keith & Arileidi 437]

On 6/25/2018 at 2:03 PM, Steeleballz said:

 

   Let's see how it holds up after a few months of tariffs. I hear China and the EU are targeting states where it will hit Trump's base the hardest.

Basically the whole Midwest.