What followed over the next 8 years was one of the most successful economic periods in American history.
- 20 million new jobs created
- Inflation dropped from 13.5% in 1980 to 4.1% in 1988
- Unemployment fell from 7.6% to 5.5%
- Net worth of average earning families grew by 27%
- Real gross national product rose 26%
- Interest rates down from 21.5% in 1980 to 10% in 1988
You know when a period of economic success has taken place when they name it after the leader and the term Reaganism economic policy is now embedded into American political history. It is true that Reagan held a degree in Economics but Donald Trump’s personal economic record is not too shabby either.
I have a feeling that Trump would be fired up to prove the world wrong and would want to make America great again. The American and world economy would be something he would take on as a personal challenge to establish his own place in history and he does seem to have the Midas touch.
How a President Trump would affect Europe is anyone’s guess. Hopefully he would listen to his advisers and not continue to poke his nose into the affairs of Europe. Criticising Merkel and other European leaders is not something that will build relationships and let us hope that the comments he is making about European policies on immigration, for example, are just his own electioneering.
What is needed is something to give the markets a boost. Shares have continued to spiral downwards over a prolonged period and the price of Oil is continuing to float around the $30 a barrel price – though whether this is due to the normal supply and demand factors or whether it is due to the USA controlling the price by flooding the market for their own political reasons is another question.
UK pensions consultancy, XPS Pensions Group (XPS), has reported a concerning rise in “red flag” pension transfer scam activity. It says that the number of red flag incidents rose from 13% in June 2018 to 34% in June 2019 and calculated the total value of the pensions savings placed at risk during the 12-month period at £73,000,000*.
Despite the protestations of expats in the Netherlands, expat financial advisers and business leaders, the Dutch cabinet recently announced that it would proceed with plans to reduce the favourable 30% expat ruling from eight to five years.