Political Parties

“A political party is an organized body of like-minded people who work to elect candidates for public office who represent their values on matters of policy. In the U.S., home to a strong two-party system, the major political parties are the Republicans and the Democrats.” 

–https://www.thoughtco.com/political-party-definition-4285031

In today’s post we will be discussing what a successful economy looks like, in my opinion a successful economy would be one that’s citizens make more than the average cost of living so that gap between rich and poor is narrower than previously seen before. This particular aspect directly correlates with the nations GDP

I’m going to be concentrating on political parties and their effect on the market, particularly, the Democratic Party opposed to the Republican Party. However before we concentrate on that, we need to establish what is considered as a “thriving economy”. To my understanding, a successful market suggests that there is uninterrupted growth in various aspects, such as GDP (Gross Domestic Product, used to estimate the dollar value of all goods and services in a country), jobs, and other possibilities.

In the graph above from the United States Joint Economic Committee (JEC), it can undoubtedly be observed that the GDP of the nation has improved while under a Democratic president. Democrats have driven an average growth GDP growth of 3.9% while Republicans have only led towards an average growth GDP growth of 2.5%. This means that under Democratic presidents, the value of goods and services in the United States has seen a more substantial overall growth compared to Republican presidents. The distinction between Democratic presidents and Republican presidents can be further developed when observing that Truman had an average GDP growth of 4.9% and Kennedy/Johnson had 5.3% while the two highest average GDP growth for Republican presidents were Reagan with 3.4% and both Nixon and Ford ending with 2.7%

Another fundamental detail to notice is that even while going through a recession (phase of economic decline), Obama nevertheless maintained to produce a larger average GDP growth of 2.0% while W. Bush only had 1.6%. But it is also crucial to point out that the Democratic leaders in GDP growth also had events that contributed to the growth, such as the creation and increase in popularity of the internet and military duty. Military engagement presents understanding when considering that Kennedy/Johnson and Nixon/Ford were all presidents throughout the Vietnam War, nonetheless, this also leads to a deviation where W. Bush became entangled in Afganistan and only had a GDP growth of 1.6%.

It is also necessary to recognize that Congress also has a significant position in the general economy. Congress is in command of passing bills that consist of taxes and the economy. If one president doesn’t work with Congress to pass bills that would improve the economy, then there would be no shift in GDP growth or decrease. The whole concept of a thriving economy is incredibly nuanced and reliant on popular events; this makes it extremely hard to tell what actually has the biggest impact on the economy.