Tapper Fact-Checks Trump’s Economic Advisor over the Actual State of the Economy
EXCERPT:
RAMPELL: "All of that is bogus. First of all, the deficit was supposed to go down this year, according to the Trump White House. Second of all, the numbers that we’re talking about are actually from the Treasury Department, not from the CBO. This is from Trump’s own administration. Third of all, we’re talking about primarily tax cuts and spending increases that were put in place under this Administration under a Republican-led Congress. That’s why the deficit went up. Historically, basically at least since the end of World War II, the economy and the deficit have moved in tandem. That is, when unemployment falls, the deficit shrinks. In fact, the last time that we had unemployment below 4 percent, we had a budget surplus. That was in 2000. We have seen a massive decoupling of those two trends, of budget deficits and the economy, and that is because, largely, the fact that this Administration, despite claiming to be fiscal hawks, claiming that they were going to, in fact, pay down the debt, if you may recall, has done the exact opposite."
