DAY 99: The US economy had its worst quarter in 3 years with Donald Trump

Early today the Commerce Department released data on showing the American economy grew a measly 0.7% in the first quarter of 2017 (January, February and March), misssing economists' forecasts that the economy would grow 1% in the first quarter.

Barack Obama's last full quarter in office (October, November and December) saw a growth 2.5%, and the quarter before that (July, August, September) saw a growth of over 3%.

But with Trump, who was in office over a third of the first quarter, the economy took a nosedive.

Ironically, despite Trump's attacks against imports, imports actually increased.

And that's not all.

According to The New York Times:

Americans say they feel more optimistic about the economy since President Trump was elected. But they certainly are not acting that way, and that is shaping up to be a challenge for his administration.

Not acting that way, huh? And the reason for that is...

Consumers pulled back sharply on spending in early 2017, the Commerce Department said on Friday, reducing the economy’s quarterly growth to its lowest level in three years. In fact, the 0.7 percent annual growth rate for the period is far below the 2.5 percent pace in President Barack Obama’s final three months in office, let alone Mr. Trump’s 4 percent target.

The caution among consumers was particularly notable on big purchases like automobiles. Other indicators were stronger — businesses invested at a healthy pace — but that was not enough to offset the headwinds from feeble retail sales and falling inventories.

So let me get this straight:

1. Consumers said they felt more optimistic with Trump being elected.

2. Consumers lied, since they spent less.

3. Retail is tanking, and imports are increasing.

Trump, of course, didn't want to take responsibility for the economic disaster and he blamed it on something else: international trade deals, telling Fox News with better trade daeals the economy would grow 5% per year.

Which is a lie, as the economy doesn't depend on trade deals, but on consumption. And if prices are higher because of trade deals, consumption will drop even further, thus sinking the economy even more. I quote from The New York Times:

With personal consumption accounting for nearly 70 percent of all economic activity, however, the administration will be hard pressed to lift growth substantially if consumers remain cautious about opening their wallets.

Nobody is going to open their wallets to products that are more expensive because they are made in the US instead of China or other countries.

So there you have it. Trump is bad for the economy.

Oh, by the way: Wall Street did pretty well in the first quarter. But not consumers.

Interestingly, Trump didn't post a single tweet about his economic fiasco today.