But while presidents can’t control how fast the economy grows, they have more influence over how that growth is divided. Presidents probably can’t do much, for example, to bring back lost manufacturing jobs, but they can try to help the workers who lost those jobs. At this week’s convention in Philadelphia, Democrats promised to raise the minimum wage, guarantee paid leave to new parents and hike taxes on the rich; those policies might have long-term effects on the size of the economy, but they would have the far more immediate effect of redistributing income from wealthier Americans to poorer ones. Republicans, of course, propose a different set of policies — lower taxes, reduced regulation — that would affect distribution in different ways. (Donald Trump also proposes various policies — bringing back manufacturing jobs, reducing immigration — that most economists consider either unrealistic or dangerous.)
The government’s role in our nation is to act like a boardroom with a CEO. The corporation that is our federal government stimulates spending & growth by investing in education, infrastructure, defense and sciences.
While Congress sets our national budget, the president must sign off and the president can take some steps to influence a bit in how we spend our money and the effects ripple for decades.