Trump’s economic illiteracy isn’t getting any better

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-economic-illiteracy-isnt-getting-any-better
"It’s tempting to do a detailed fact-check of Donald Trump’s speech in Phoenix last night, but the very idea is exhausting. The president’s lies were so frequent, and so brazen, that’s it would be easier to do a fact-check in reverse and highlight the claims he made that were true. It’d be a short list. But there was one line that jumped out at me because it dovetails with a rhetorical line I’ve been keeping an eye on in recent months. Trump was eager to argue that he’s produced amazing economic gains – the president touted the million-job figure again, though I don’t think he appreciates why that tally is so underwhelming – which led him to this gem: “[E]conomic growth has surged to 2.6 percent. Remember, everybody said, ‘You won’t bring it up to 1 percent. You won’t bring it up to 1.2 percent.’” Everybody didn’t say that. In fact, literally no one said that because this rhetoric doesn’t make any sense. The president seemed lost trying to talk about this a month ago, and his economic illiteracy doesn’t seem to be getting any better. I’m trying to think of a way to explain this in a way Trump wouldn’t find confusing. The strength of the economy is generally measured by GDP, or gross domestic product. Four times a year, we get a quarterly GDP report, showing the strength of the economy from the previous three months. (That report is revised twice more after an initial release, but let’s keep things simple.) Eventually, we get a GDP report for the entire calendar year. Trump’s correct that the most recent quarterly report – reflecting the economy in April, May, and June – showed growth of 2.6%, which reflects a relatively healthy economy. But the president is under the impression that 2.6% growth is somehow an extraordinary accomplishment – he recently called it an “unbelievable number” – which isn’t even close to being true."