Global Investors Are Telling Donald Trump His Deficits and National…
Washington is unnerved these days about budget deficits and the national debt. Deficit angst comes along periodically, often as a pretext for cutting social spending. This time, however, there’s genuine cause for alarm. Outsized deficits are par for the course when the economy is in recession or reeling from a shock like the pandemic or the financial collapse; most of… Continue reading
Harris Has the Facts to Refute Trump’s Lies About the…
With Kamala Harris’ fast-approaching nomination, her campaign has an opening to call out Donald Trump’s lies about his economic record and reset the economic narrative based on facts. Trump regularly claims that “we had the greatest economy in history” under his leadership. In late June, Trump declared that he had left Biden an economy that “was so good, all he…Continue reading
Trump’s Plan to Tax-by-Tariffs Would Enrich the Wealthy and Cripple…
Based on Donald Trump’s pledge last week to replace the personal income tax with trade tariffs, there can be no question about the depths of his economic ignorance. Consider the plan’s effects: It would cripple U.S. trade, growth, and employment while triggering the worst inflation since 1980. Tariffs that could replace income tax revenues will have to be very broad…Continue reading
After the Trump Verdict: This Week’s Polls Mean Little to…
No one knows if Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions will move many Americans when they vote in five months. Nevertheless, the early surveys probably cheered Joe Biden’s White House: A Reuters/Ipsos post-verdict poll showed the president now leading Trump by 2 points (41 to 39), compared to the pre-verdict RealClearPolitics average with Trump ahead by 2 points (42 to 40).…Continue reading
Trump’s Plans for Unauthorized Immigrants are Brutal—and Would Bring On…
Donald Trump’s fierce enmity towards immigrants is a central theme of his campaign, as it was in 2016. This time, though, he is offering detailed plans that, if carried out, would inflict misery on a mass level and major costs for taxpayers and the economy. Trump’s plans include once again barring entry from selected Muslim-majority countries and, despite the waning…Continue reading
The Last of the Baby Boomers Are Turning 65, And…
Between now and 2030, nearly 30 million Americans born between 1959 and 1964 will turn 65, the tail end of the Baby Boom generation. As the largest cohort on record to reach retirement age, they are often called the “peak boomers.” In a new study supported by the Alliance for Lifetime Income, my co-author Luke Stuttgen and I found that…Continue reading
Based on Incomes, Americans Are a Lot Better Off Under…
In their only 1980 presidential debate, Ronald Reagan posed a famous question that sealed Jimmy Carter's political fate: "Are you better now than you were four years ago?" Bill Clinton similarly denied George H. W. Bush a second term in 1992 by running a campaign based on James Carville's famous expression, "It's the economy, stupid." Donald Trump faces a real…Continue reading
Data Don’t Lie: Biden’s Economic Record is Much Better than…
Donald Trump's prospects for a second presidential term may well rest on whether voters accept his proposition that facts no longer matter. A case in point is his narrative that the economy was stronger during his presidency than under President Joe Biden. With few reality checks from the economic media, most of the public apparently agrees: One recent survey found…Continue reading
Why Biden’s Good Economic News Hasn’t Helped Him Politically —…
Americans’ negative views about President Joe Biden’s stewardship of the economy may be the biggest challenge to his reelection. Despite healthy GDP growth and the largest job gains on record over his 35 months in office, the latest Gallup poll found that people disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy by a 67-to-32 percent margin. The latest Morning Consult survey reported that 51 percent…Continue reading