Mulvaney Hits Krugman: A Lot of Folks Who Have a ‘Vested Interest’ in Seeing Us Fail on the Economy
WALLACE: The economy has been a bright spot for President Trump, highlighted by strong growth and low unemployment. But trade wars and a possible government shutdown loom on the horizon.
Joining us now, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney.
Director Mulvaney, let’s start with the economy, where there are clearly some great numbers. I want to put them up on the screen.
GDP growth in the second quarter, 4.1 percent. Overall unemployment, 3.9 percent. The jobless numbers for blacks, Hispanics and young people are the lowest in decades.
Here’s what White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow told the cabinet this week.
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LARRY KUDLOW, WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISER: We are crushing it. And people say this is not sustainable. It’s one quarter blip. It’s just nonsense.
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WALLACE: But, Director Mulvaney, there are other economists who say that we’re on a sugar high based on tax cuts and big government spending that won’t last.
I want to put up the projection from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, recent projection. It growth of 3.1 percent this year, 2.4 percent in 2019 and back down to 1.7 percent in 2020.
Are they wrong?
MICK MULVANEY, WHITE HOUSE BUDGET DIRECTOR: Yes, we — we think that they are. Keep in mind, all of the folks who are now saying it’s — it’s just a short-term sugar high, it’s just a blip, it’s not sustainable, including the CBO, are the same people who said it was impossible to get to 3 percent in the first place. They have a vested interest in seeing us fail.
One of my favorite lines came, I think, from Paul Krugman who said that — about the time we rolled out our first budget, which introduced this concept of 3 percent growth, sustainable 3 percent growth, he said you could make him complete dictator of the country and he couldn’t get you there. So there’s a lot of folks who are interested in seeing us fail because we are proving that if you regulate (INAUDIBLE), you let people keep more of their own money, that the American economy can grow and that that growth is sustainable.
