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The lie that won’t die is that Republicans are better for the economy than Democrats. By every measure possible, that is just not correct. Republicans break shit, Democrats fix it, and voters reward them by ushering Republicans back in power. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Now, the stock market is not “the economy,” and even boom times have seen economic decline for a significant percentage of people in the United States, particularly in its decaying rural regions. But the market is a proxy for strong economic performance, however inequitable it might be distributed.
At that very least, there’s no scenario in which we have economic development without a strong market. If companies are to create jobs, there has to be a strong market—or investors, in anticipation—pumping money into that job growth. Just take a look at Wall Street’s 10 worst crashes:
1) March 12, 2020
Republican Donald Trump was president, and the emergence of a deadly pandemic and ensuing shutdowns signaled a period of economic uncertainty. Rather than calm jittery markets, Trump suggested that people inject bleach (April 24, 2020) to cure COVID-19. The markets had every reason to panic. Too bad they didn’t remember those lessons in 2024.
2) Nov. 20, 2008
Republican George W. Bush was president when the subprime mortgage crisis took down the global economy. Years of Wall Street deregulation—cheered on by Republicans—created the conditions for this mess.
3) April 4, 2025
Trump is president again, and here we are in a completely self-created and enabled crisis because Wall Street didn’t learn from the lessons of 2020, and their greed overrode all evidence that Trump is a disaster to not just our democracy but to global order. Congratulations, assholes. You voted for this.
4) Nov. 6, 2008
Bush done f’d stuff up.
5) October 15, 2008
Same as #2 and #4, courtesy of Bush and his merry cabal of deregulators.
6) October 7, 2008
Same same.
7) March 9, 2020
Trump again.
8-10) October 9, 10, and 22, 2008
Bush really made a mess of things, which makes it particularly maddening that people walked away thinking that Republicans knew anything about running an economy. Eight years of manufactured scandals against Democratic President Barack Obama really did a number in the United States, ushering in the age of Trump.
It’s quite obvious that, once Trump’s tariffs have fully left their mark, 2025 will occupy far more than just one spot on this list.
Other notable crashes?
Black Friday in October 1929, with Republican Herbert Hoover as president.
Post-9/11 market crash, with Bush as president.
Black Monday on October 19, 1987, with Republican President Ronald Reagan.
It’s a Republican. Every. Single. Time.
It's not just Republicans, it's businessmen. Hoover, George W. Bush, and of course Trump were all businessmen. Reagan technically not but he kind of was an adopted businessman with all the corporate friends he had.
What happens is, people think a businessman would be great for the economy. But what makes someone a great businessman? Not strong knowledge of economics, that's what makes you a good economics professor. A great businessman is one who is good at fundraising, which basically comes down to having lots of rich friends who you can convince that giving you money will pay off for them down the road. This is why guys like Adam Neumann still raise gobs of money after failing - if people see you as a guy who can raise money, they're less worried you'll go bankrupt.
So anyway, when these Adam Neumanns end up entering the white house, they find that they've made many promises to their wealthy friends but don't know how to keep them. So they try their best, conducting sweeping changes to financial and regulatory systems, but lacking the economic knowledge to understand the often complex effects these decisions have. Inevitably, there's major economic problems down the road.