Don’t Expect a Return to the Trump Economy
While the gap may be closing, polls tend to show that more Americans trust former President Donald Trump than Vice President Kamala Harris on economic issues. This sentiment is understandable, given the strong pre-pandemic economy during Trump’s first term and the challenges of inflation and declining real wages under the Biden-Harris administration.
However, voters pinning their economic hopes on a Trump comeback might find themselves disappointed.
There’s no denying that the Trump-era economy prior to COVID-19 was good. Low unemployment, growing gross domestic product (GDP), and a booming stock market were hallmarks of his presidency. In contrast, the Biden-Harris years have been marked by an erosion of American families’ purchasing power.
Adding to voter skepticism about a Harris economy is the vice president’s apparent lack of a clear pro-growth vision. She’s flip-flopped on many issues while rarely talking to the press. It’s difficult to know what she really believes about critical economic matters like health care and fracking.
When Harris has given specifics, they’ve been awful. That includes her anti–price gouging idea, which she has repeated many times, and her desire to hike corporate and capital-gains tax rates. She obviously believes growth comes from government.
However, I have to wonder whether a second Trump term would deliver the economic resurgence voters hope for.
The circumstances Trump would inherit are far more challenging than those he faced in 2017. Consider government debt. On the eve of the pandemic, outstanding public debt was too high—around $18 trillion—but paled in comparison to the current $28 trillion or so. There’s no reason to trust Trump to cut spending or pass the necessary reforms, in part because he explicitly says he won’t touch Social Security and Medicare, the two main drivers of our fiscal problems.
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Article from Reason.com
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