{"id":17516,"date":"2026-09-09T12:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=17516"},"modified":"2026-09-09T12:43:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:43:05","slug":"trump-economists-say-the-most-unbelievable-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=17516","title":{"rendered":"Trump economists say the most unbelievable things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Trump administration economists\u2019 latest debt-reducing mantra is a throwback from 15 years ago. It might have worked back then. Today, the suggestion is nothing more than a diversion tactic to make voters think the administration has a realistic plan for reducing the government\u2019s debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently told Sara Eisen of CNBC, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing magic about the $40 trillion number, and we can grow our way out of that.\u201d He made a similar claim to reporters before the Group of 20 finance ministers meeting in North Carolina: \u201cThe world is awash in debt and the only way for us to get out of this is to grow our way out of this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vice President JD Vance has been parroting Bessent\u2019s position. Carl Higbie of Newsmax asked the vice president if there was \u201canything on the horizon offsetting\u201d the $40 trillion federal debt. Vance replied that Bessent\u2019s idea \u201cis to get the economy to a point where it is growing faster than our debt.\u201d And then he asserts, \u201cIf you look, we\u2019re on track.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except no, we aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does the Government Accountability Office support the Bessent-Vance claim? According to its June report, debt held by the public \u201cis projected to grow more than twice as fast as the economy over the next 10 years, reaching 123% of the size of the economy in 2036.\u201d Apparently, the government watchdog agency didn\u2019t get Team Trump\u2019s talking points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report adds, \u201cThe federal government\u2019s unsustainable fiscal outlook poses serious economic, national security, and societal challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just consider what it would take for the country to grow its way out of the federal debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal debt is now more than $40 trillion and growing. If Congress were to not only balance the annual budget but have a $2 trillion budget surplus every year, and then apply that surplus to the federal debt, it would take 20 years to pay off a $40 trillion debt. President Trump only has two more years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s if we had a $2 trillion budget surplus. For the last three years, we have had a near $2 trillion annual budget deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, the U.S. Treasury says total federal revenue was $5.23 trillion. Total federal spending was $7.01 trillion, leaving a budget deficit of $1.78 trillion. In order to have a budget surplus of $2 trillion, the government would have to have collected an extra $3.78 trillion \u2014 about 70 percent more than our actual revenue. And it would have to keep up that fiscal discipline for 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But wait: Bessent\u2019s idea is to promote policies that spur economic growth, which could bring in more federal revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do that the economy needs to be growing at a very rapid rate, which it isn\u2019t. The average annual economic growth rate since 1946 is 3.2 percent. Yet gross domestic product was 2.1 percent in the first quarter of 2026 and only 1.5 percent in the second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economist Peter Earle with the American Institute for Economic Research writes, \u201cstabilizing the federal debt burden through economic growth \u2014 without spending cuts, tax increases, or additional borrowing \u2014 would require something on the order of 7.3 percent annual real GDP growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the Trump administration could dramatically reduce federal spending. But while the administration may be spending less on some entitlement programs, it\u2019s spending much more in other areas. Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office predicts deficits will continue to rise such that total federal debt will hit $56.1 trillion in 10 years \u2014 and that estimate was before the cost of the war with Iran is factored in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent may be channeling an idea being discussed around 2011, when the country was having serious discussions about how to balance the federal budget. The idea was that if federal spending were held to a 1 percent increase per year, revenue from a growing economy would balance the budget in about 10 years. The legislation that Congress did pass, the \u201cbudget sequester,\u201d didn\u2019t balance the budget, but it did reduce the annual deficit by one-half to two-thirds for the next six years. Even with the biggest budget cut in decades, federal debt kept rising, just not as fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is long past time for Trump\u2019s economists to be honest with the public. Every administration puts a positive spin on how its economic policies are affecting the country. But claiming that economic growth can pay off a $40 trillion federal debt isn\u2019t just exaggeration; it is dishonesty. If Trump\u2019s economists say unbelievable things, you shouldn\u2019t believe them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump administration economists\u2019 latest debt-reducing mantra is a throwback from 15 years ago. It might have worked back then. Today, the suggestion is nothing more than a diversion tactic to make voters think the administration has a realistic plan for reducing the government\u2019s debt. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently told Sara Eisen of CNBC, \u201cThere\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":17517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[61],"class_list":["post-17516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-usa"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump economists say the most unbelievable things - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=17516\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump economists say the most unbelievable things - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trump administration economists\u2019 latest debt-reducing mantra is a throwback from 15 years ago. 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