When Hofstra students are asked about the upcoming election, a particular claim is repeated: “The economy was better under Trump.” But it’s just that: a baseless claim. Former President Trump’s economy was bad for young people and Americans in general.
We’ve had bad inflation these last few years. Many young people wonder if they’ll ever find a good job after college, or even be able to buy a home in their lifetimes. The pain of a rough economy is real, and it sucks. However, things weren’t better years ago under a different president. In many ways, the economy under Trump was plain awful when it comes to things that young people care about.
Why don’t we start by talking about inflation, a topic that’s at the front of many students’ minds? People I’ve talked to have often complained about the expense of necessary groceries. Milk, fresh fruit and meat have increased in cost, but things were not better under Trump. The consumer price index, which tracks the price of food in U.S. cities, shows that the price of food went up by 9.14% during Trump’s presidency, which is faster when compared to the cumulative 7.71% inflation rate in the same period.
The price of a house also went up faster than inflation during Trump’s administration. Housing prices went up faster every year of his presidency except in 2018. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the median price of a house rose 8% under Trump which includes the beginning of COVID-19 when the increase in home prices and rent slowed down.
Rent went up faster in U.S. cities all four years of the Trump administration. On average, renters paid 13.6% more in rent when Trump left office than when he came in. So when you look at the facts, Trump failed to beat inflation.
Trump also slashed the budget for affordable housing. According to the American Bar, Trump took a huge chunk of money – about $10 billion – from our country’s public housing agency in 2020. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) lost two-thirds of its federal funding. As a result, NYCHA was forced to raise rents and delay repairs for homes serving 400,000 New Yorkers to balance its budget.
Then, when it comes to healthcare, Trump didn’t fare any better. According to the Kaiser Family Fund, 18 million Americans gained health insurance coverage in the three years before Trump’s presidency. Trump reversed the trend, with millions losing healthcare in his first three years. By the end of his term, health insurance costs had soared by 23%, far outpacing the average American’s 6.81% increase in weekly earnings.
Under Trump, food got more expensive, housing prices and rent went up, people lost their healthcare and the general cost of living went up faster than their wages. There was no “great Trump economy;” that’s just a myth. As young people, we shouldn’t be trying to go back to Trump’s economy, especially when there’s nothing good to go back to.
