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More headlines: Donald Trump on Budget & Economy

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Campaigned for Glass-Steagall; but administration opposes it

I don't love all regulations--no one does--but some problems can be solved only when our government writes and enforces a set of rules.

For starters, we should put in place a modern version of Glass-Steagall and separate plain-vanilla banking like checking accounts and savings accounts from crazy risk-taking on Wall Street. This doesn't have to be partisan. My first cosponsor for a twenty-first-century Glass-Steagall bill was the Republicans' 2008 presidential nominee, Senator John McCain. In 2016, Donald Trump campaigned on this idea, and, at his insistence, adopting Galss-Steagall was added to the Republican platform. But the Republican leadership has refused to move any such legislation and now President Trump has put in place an economic team that is headed in the opposite direction.

Here's another idea: The SEC should hire a leader who doesn't work for Wall Street.

Oh, and here's a good one: when CEOs break the law, they ought to go to jail, just like anyone else.

Source: This Fight is Our Fight, by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, p. 93-4 Apr 18, 2017

We're dying at 1% GDP growth; we don't make things anymore

India is growing at 8%. China is growing at 7%. And that for them is a catastrophically low number. We are growing right around the 1% level. And I think it's going down.

Last week, they came out with an anemic jobs report. Look, our country is stagnant. We've lost our jobs. We've lost our businesses. We're not making things anymore, relatively speaking. Our product is pouring in from China, pouring in from Vietnam, pouring in from all over the world.

GDP is at 1% now, and if [Hillary] got in, it will be less than zero. But we're bringing it from 1% up to 4%. And I actually think [with my economic plan] we can go higher than 4%. I think you can go to 5% or 6%. And if we do, you don't have to bother asking [about jobs], because we have a tremendous machine. We will have created a tremendous economic machine once again. To do that, we're taking back jobs. We're not going to let our companies be raided by other countries where we lose all our jobs, we don't make our product anymore. I

Source: Third 2016 Presidential Debate, moderated by Chris Wallace Oct 19, 2016

Economic machine to increase US growth rate to 5% or 6%

Q: Our national debt, as a share of GDP, is now 77%. That's the highest since just after World War II. Under Secretary Clinton's plan, the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says, debt would rise to 86% of GDP over the next 10 years. Mr. Trump, under your plan, it would rise to 105% of GDP over the next 10 years.

TRUMP: Well, I say they're wrong, because I'm going to create tremendous jobs. And we're bringing GDP from, really, 1% [growth rate], which is what it is now, and if she got in, it will be less than zero. But we're bringing it from 1% up to 4%. And I actually think we can go higher than 4%. I think you can go to 5% or 6%. And if we do, you don't have to bother asking your question, because we will have created a tremendous economic machine once again, the likes of which we haven't seen in many decades. And people will again go back to work, and we'll have companies that will grow and expand and start from new.

Source: Third 2016 Presidential Debate in Las Vegas Oct 19, 2016

U.S. 1% growth is almost no growth, and due to high taxes

We have no growth in this country. If China has a GDP of 7 percent, it's like a national catastrophe. We're down at 1 percent. And that's, like, no growth. And we're going lower, in my opinion. A lot of it has to do with the fact that our taxes are so high, just about the highest in the world. And I'm bringing them down to one of the lower in the world.
Source: Second 2016 Presidential Debate at WUSTL in St. Louis MO Oct 9, 2016

FactCheck: Fed keeps interest rates low, but apolitically

TRUMP: "We are in a bubble right now. The Fed, by keeping interest rates at this level, is doing political things. The Fed is being more political than Secretary Clinton."

THE FACTS: This is a recurrent claim by Trump with no evidence to back it up. It's the Federal Reserve's job to help improve the economy and to the extent that happens, political leaders may benefit. But presidents can't make the Fed, an independent agency, do anything.

Under former chair Ben Bernanke and current chair Janet Yellen, the Fed has attracted controversy by pegging the short-term interest rate it controls to nearly zero for seven years. It is still ultra-low at between 0.25% and 0.5%, a rate that some economists worry could spark a stock-market bubble or inflation. Bernanke was initially appointed by Republican Pres. George W. Bush, and reappointed by Obama.

One reason Yellen is keeping rates low is that, in some ways, she agrees with Trump that hiring needs to keep growing to provide jobs.

Source: U.S.News & World Report on First 2016 Presidential Debate Sep 27, 2016

Worst recovery since Great Depression; we're in a bubble

We have the worst revival of an economy since the Great Depression. And believe me: We're in a bubble right now. And the only thing that looks good is the stock market, but if you raise interest rates even a little bit, that's going to come crashing down. We are in a big, fat, ugly bubble. And we better be awfully careful. And we have a Fed that's doing political things. This Janet Yellen of the Fed. The Fed is [being] political by keeping the interest rates at this level. And believe me: The day Obama goes off, and he leaves, and goes out to the golf course for the rest of his life to play golf, when they raise interest rates, you're going to see some very bad things happen, because the Fed is not doing their job. The Fed is being more political than Secretary Clinton.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University Sep 26, 2016

Use increasing debt ceiling as bargaining chip

Q: We're about to have a fight over the government's ability to borrow money, the debt limit. Do you think it's an economic problem if the debt limit is not raised? Will that hurt the economy?

TRUMP: Well, I think what they should do is use the debt limit as a strong negotiating tool to make other changes and to cut costs elsewhere. The Republicans don't know how to negotiate.

Q: But let me ask you about that question of the debt ceiling. Do you think that, if it's breached, that that is an economic problem, leaving aside the question of negotiation?

TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say. And I'll tell you why. We should use it as negotiation. And the problem we have in this country is that we're so predictable.

Source: CBS Face the Nation 2015 interview by Bob Schieffer Oct 25, 2015

Government must cut spending more

Speaking on Fox News in 2013, Donald Trump said that automatic budget cuts, or sequester, does not go far enough and Congress must reduce spending further to address impending increases in the deficit.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls Jun 16, 2015

2006: Warned about impending implosion of financial sector

As we've noticed with the recent upheaval on Wall Street, things aren't always as solid as they seem. That calls for individual responsibility and financial intelligence. I have always been wary of the stock market. It's a gamble, but it can be lucrative, which is the lure.

In short, there are no guarantees. That means being alert to nation and world markets. Do your homework daily I shouldn't need to emphasize this if you've paid attention to what's transpired in the United States from 2006 until now, which is late 2008. There was an implosion in the financial sector that was unprecedented in our history. I see it as a wake-up call.

I tried to warn people back in 2006. Now I'm back to tell you loud and clear that this area of your life is of great importance. We are all businessmen and women, whether you see it that way yet or not. If you like art and can't make money at it, you eventually realize that everything is business, even your art.

Source: Think Like a Champion, by Donald Trump, p. 86 Apr 27, 2010

Prepare for upcoming crash, bigger than 1929

I hope I’m wrong, but I think we may be facing an economic crash like we’ve never seen before -probably sooner rather than later. The next president could be in office for a stock market crash worse than the one in 1929. I’m not saying this crash will ruin us, but we have to anticipate it and know how to rebound. Right now I’m not seeing the leadership we’re going to need.
Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p. 26 Jul 2, 2000

OpEd: 1990s bankruptcy due to ego-based purchases

In 1990 analysis said that of Trump's 22 assets, only 3 were running a profit. He had piled up a remarkable $3.2 billion in debt. The monthly cash balance from all his businesses was tumbling into the red. His net worth: negative $295 million.

The bad news seemed to weigh on his mind. "Nobody wants to write the positives," he shouted to the crowd. "Over the years, I've surprised a lot of people. The largest surprise is yet to come."

He prided himself on buying or building the very best, sometimes overpaying out of faith in the Trump name and an ever expanding market. His propensity for purchases that played to his ego had been especially evident in his acquisition of one of New York's most storied properties, the Plaza Hotel.

Source: Trump Revealed, by Michael Kranish & Mark Fisher, p.189 Aug 23, 2016

Sought NYC deal with $4M property tax break

Trump was partial to sharp angles, shiny surfaces, and uncluttered design, he admired One Astor Plaza's sleek functionality. The key to the whole shiny project would be a big tax break, which Trump first tried to win from the state government in Albany. When this approach failed, Trump turned to the city bureaucracy, where development officials helped him with a cleverly engineered scheme. Under this plan, the state's Urban Development Corporation would actually own the hotel and lease it to Trump. The agency, which was tax exempt, could keep the property off the city assessment rolls. Trump and Hyatt would save more than $4 million per year.

This truth wasn't lost on other hoteliers. President of the Americana Hotel, complained that the deal was "immoral and unfair." Harry Helmsley wondered aloud whether "maybe too much is being given" to the Trumps.

Source: Never Enough, by Michael D`Antonio, p.103 Sep 22, 2015

Optimistic about future of Atlantic City

A fact that’s gotten lost in all of the adverse publicity I encountered in 1990 is that, on the whole, my Atlantic City ventures have been extremely successful. Despite those tough times, I remain extremely optimistic about Atlantic City, and I’ll tell you why. If the town can draw tens of millions of people and generate many billion in revenues and tax dollars at a time when there is so much about the area that seems designed to keep people out, think of what will happen when improvements are made. It’s easy for people who’ve never been there to forget that crowds of people continue to pour in, by bus, by car, by helicopter, from almost everywhere east of the Mississippi.

The maddening thing is that there’s really no excuse for the way the town has developed. Atlantic City represents a unique situation; it is like no other town in America. In most places you’ll find ideas but not enough money to carry them out. In Atlantic City there is plenty of money, but there are almost no ideas.

Source: Surviving at the Top, p.164-66 Jul 2, 1990

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Page last updated: Oct 27, 2021