Opinion: Trump’s economic hoaxes just collided with reality
By Dana Milbank Dana Milbank Op-ed columnist covering national politics Email Bio Follow Columnist March 5 Last August, President Trump went to Charleston, W.Va., for a “mission accomplished” moment.
Quarterly figures are volatile, but clearly, two years into the Trump presidency, both West Virginia and the coal industry remain in bad shape. Coal-plant closures nationwide reached a near-record in 2018, production was off sharply, and U.S. coal consumption hit a 40-year low. Jobs in coal have barely budged, from 51,000 at the end of 2016 to 52,700 today.
The main threat to coal, however, wasn’t a regulatory “war” but market trends favoring natural gas and renewables. Inevitably, reality overtook Trump’s hype. West Virginia’s coal industry has been a bit luckier because demand for its metallurgical coal has been healthier, but signs suggest that demand is now cooling. The state’s unemployment rate remains among the nation’s highest. Earlier GDP growth — the state’s 2.2 percent in 2017 matched the national average — reflected higher global prices for metallurgical coal and natural gas.
But last week, the government reported 2018 growth of 2.9 percent — despite the maximum stimulative benefit of Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut and a boost from massive deficit spending in an already expanding economy.
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