Fact-Check: Yes, We Are Experiencing Slow Economic Growth, But Not the Slowest Since 1929

During the second presidential debate, Donald Trump said America is currently experiencing the “slowest economic growth since 1929.”

Fact-Check: MOSTLY FALSE

Trump made himself a victim of hyperbole with this statement. If he had said America was currently experiencing one of its slowest growth periods since 1929, he would have been entirely correct, but there have been a few slower periods – and, of course, a few outright recessions, or negative growth – since then.

It would be playing word games to argue that the recessions shouldn’t be counted, because they weren’t economic growth. Even so, it wouldn’t be correct to say the current growth rate is the absolute worst since 1929, although it is among the worst.

It has been argued that the post-2009 recovery was the weakest of the post-war era, and that Obama’s is the only presidency since the Great Depression that never reached 3% GDP growth, but that’s not what Trump said.