The U.S. stock market grew steadily for more than six years straight - the third longest bull market in U.S. history - and no one in the Republican Party ever, ever would give President Barack Obama or his administration credit.
But Monday, as U.S. markets took a plunging hiccup on the heels of a Chinese "Black Monday" market wallop, guess who the GOP presidential contenders were quick to blame? You get three guesses to say President Barack Obama, and the first two guesses don't count.
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin called on President Obama to grow some "backbone" and call off a planned state visit to Washington by Chinese President Xi Jinping next month. Walker didn't explain how that would fix or change anything. Never mind that Walker's own economic development agency in Wisconsin has a trade mission planned to China in January. Oops.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey chimed in:
"This is a history of failed policies by this president. What's happened is, because this president has run up more debt than any president in American history, that debt has been given to us in large measure by the Chinese. And so now, as the Chinese markets tend to have a correction, which they're doing right now, it's going to have an even greater effect because this president doesn't know how to say no to spending, doesn't know how to say no to a bigger and more intrusive government."
Never mind that while the Chinese government is in fact the largest holder of United States government debt, its large purchases help hold down the interest payments that American taxpayers must ultimately bear to service that debt.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tweeted: "You don't build a strong economy by empowering Washington-Wall Street elites at the expense of American workers on Main Street. Sadly, the chickens are now coming home to roost for the Obama administration and its failed economic policies. It's time to build America's economy, not China's or Mexico's, & quit importing cheap labor & exporting jobs overseas."
Carly Fiorina told the Fox Business Network: "The Chinese government cut this deal with the Chinese people which is, 'We're going to keep this economy growing fast enough to lift millions out of poverty and in return, you're going to accept censorship, repression and terrible safety standards and pollution. Frankly, I think now is the time for us to put pressure on China."
Deal? China's Communist government?
Then last and least is Donald J. Trump's response that China will "bring us down."
On Fox News, Trump told Bill O'Reilly it's time for the big U.S. and China "uncoupling." And then he said: "Our government should have stopped China from devaluing (its currency)."
Even O'Reilly was incredulous: "They can't!" O'Reilly exclaimed. "How?"
It's "simple," Trump replied. "Put a tariff on Chinese goods."
O'Reilly threw up his hands and shook his head. "Then you got a trade war," he said, not even trying to hide his disdain.
These comments and others that basically call for isolationism are plainly frightening.
Our world grows smaller with each leap of technology, and to pretend our economy is not also a global economy is naive at best and malicious at worst.
"There's no doubt that the global economy is more interconnected than it's ever been," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in the White House briefing room Monday. "But what I would encourage people to evaluate is the ongoing strength and resilience of the U.S. economy."
A U.S. stock market drop of 5 percent or more in a week has happened 18 times since 2000, according to a Bloomberg-sourced New York Times graphic in Tuesday's online Times edition. During the 30 days following those drops, the S&P gained ground in 13 out of those 18 cases.
Markets usually recover after a fall, but that won't keep presidential candidates, especially Republican ones, from crying that the sky is falling and declaring that only a vote for them will provide an umbrella.