Donald Trump’s Economic Speech
Donald Trump adopted the Republican mantra by going all out into trickle-down economics in his economic speech in Detroit. His policies provide huge tax breaks to the rich and very little for the poor and middle-class. Media Matters aggregated a list of economists that completely slammed Trump’s irresponsible plan.
Trump Delivers “Economic Speech In Which He Floated New Tax Breaks.” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivered a speech focused on the economy on August 8 in Detroit, MI. According to a Reuters report, Trump’s latest plan would create three individual tax brackets of 12, 25, and 33 percent, and sharply drop the taxes on corporations from 35 percent to 15 percent. In addition, “Trump called for a temporary moratorium on new regulations and repeated his pledges to rewrite the landmark North American trade deal.” [Reuters, 8/8/16]
Fact-Checkers, Journalists Chastised Trump For Being “Light On Details” While Peddling “Pathetic” Misinformation. Media figures blasted Trump’s economic speech in real time for being “detail-devoid” and “ridden with more of the same empty tropes” exemplified during his previous economic policy speeches.Washington Post fact-checkers Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee hit Trump throughout his speech for pushing “pathetic, even embarrassing” falsehoods on a range of topics. [Media Matters, 8/8/16, 8/8/16]
Economists Join Chorus Pummeling Trump’s Economic Plan In The Media
Robert Reich: “Donald Trump [Walked] Away From The Abyss Of Sheer Lunacy Back Toward The Normal Nonsense Of Supply-Side, Trickle-Down Economics.” Former labor secretary and economic policy professor Robert Reich blasted Trump and his economic advisor Stephen Moore for attempting to rebrand the “sheer lunacy” in Trump’s original tax plan into the “normal nonsense of supply-side, trickle-down economics” characteristic of other Republican politicians. Reich added that “nothing trickles down” to middle- and working-class Americans from cutting taxes for the rich, but the proposed tax cuts would create “huge deficits.” [Fox News, The Kelly File, 8/9/16]
Mark Zandi: Under Trump’s Plan We Could “End Up With Very Large Deficit And Debt” That We “Can’t Afford.” Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, argued on the August 8 edition of CNN’s Wolfthat it would not be “prudent” to dramatically cut taxes in hopes of stoking economic growth because there is no guarantee that tax cuts will generate the growth needed to curtail revenue shortfalls. Zandi added that Trump’s idea to eliminate the estate tax is unlikely to “juice” the economy. [CNN, Wolf, 8/8/16]
Wash. Post: Experts Believe Trump’s Plan Will Do Little For The Middle Class. According to two experts cited by The Washington Post, Trump’s speech was “a big disappointment” in terms of outlining how his proposed reforms would help middle-class Americans. The Post quoted Martin Sullivan, the chief economist at Tax Analysts, a nonpartisan tax research organization, as saying that Trump’s new plan is “actually doing less for the middle class than he originally planned.” The Post also cited conservative tax analyst Ryan Ellis, who noted that Trump’s proposed deduction for child care expenses “would provide no benefit to low income workers and single parents who are unlikely to have any tax liability to begin with.” [The Washington Post, 8/8/16]
The farce continues.