WASHINGTON — (CNN) The economy is suddenly in the spotlight of the 2016 presidential race.
When markets opened Monday morning, the Dow suffered an extraordinary selloff, plunging some 1,000 points within just several minutes of the opening bell.
In an election cycle that has so far been dominated by issues like immigration and foreign policy, the abrupt course correction on Wall Street is bringing a sudden renewed focus on the health of the U.S. economy more than a year ahead of Election Day.
Several 2016 presidential candidates began to weigh in Monday, using the global turmoil to pivot to their favorite economic talking points.
Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman who is currently leading the Republican presidential field, was first to pounce, saying the massive selloff was the result of the U.S. “allowing China and Asia to dictate the agenda.”
“As I have long stated, we are so tied in with China and Asia that their markets are now taking the U.S. market down,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Get smart U.S.A.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie placed the blame squarely on the “failed policies” of President Barack Obama, blasting the White House for not getting a handle on the national debt.
“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,” Christie said on Fox News. “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.”
On the other side of the aisle, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders seized on the chaos to reiterate grievances about “Wall Street and the billionaire class” that he said have “rigged the rules.” Sanders has made attacks on Wall Street and special interests a major part of his candidacy, as he seeks to draw a contrast with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Clinton has not yet weighed in on the Dow’s drop.
“We need banks that invest in the job-creating economy,” Sanders said. “We don’t need more speculation with the American economy hanging in the balance.”
By late Monday morning, the Dow bounced back from the initial dive, though it remained several hundred points lower.
Many economists urged market watchers to avoid panic, pointing out that a course correction in the stock markets should not be confused with fundamental weakness in the U.S. economy.
Despite the troubling selloff Monday morning, there’s no question that the economy has made notable progress since the height of the 2008 financial crisis.
The unemployment rate is now down at 5.3% and employers have added nearly 3 million jobs over the last year. Home prices are up, and the recent dip in oil prices has meant more freedom for consumers to spend their money on other expenses.
As a result, the economy until now has not been as major an issue in the 2016 race as it was in 2012. Four years ago, Obama was still struggling with a high unemployment rate, sluggish growth and a Republican nominee with a business background who was eager to attack the president’s economic policies.
“Whenever you get large market moves, especially ahead of a presidential cycle, there’ no question that people are going to talk about it,” said Deutsche Bank’s chief U.S. Economist Joseph LaVorgna. “It’s very easy in the short-term, especially in the thick of things of both political and economic, to react to an event which oftentimes evolves in a way that many of us don’t foresee.”
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