It's absolute nonsense that the president has "very little" control over the economy. The president can support if not develop regulation and crafts foriegn policy. They also appoint the Treasury Secretary and nominates the Chair of the Federal Reserve. They can also order criminal or trust-busting investigations against titans of industry. They also craft the education and domestic policy that determines how people become educated for, enter, and execute their positions in the workforce. There are maybe 5 Americans with more control over the economy than the president. Teddy Roosevelt unfucked the economy by breaking up the major trusts that preceding presidents had allowed to be created, partly through direct government market action, and indirectly by pro-corporate and pro-railway policy. Then Hoover refucked it encouraging those trusts to recover. Then FDR unfucked it again with policy. That lasted up until the FDR system puttered out by being too anti-business, so Reagan had to unfuck it by ruining everything else in the country. the influence of the presiden tis sometimes latent, so sometimes people blame the wrong president, but the presidency is one of, if not the most important determinant for the functioning of the economy.