Economic Risks With Trump's Bill Are 'Huge'

Former Treasury secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers are no strangers to fiscal problems and rapid technological changes, which were front and center during their time with the Clinton administration. With conservative planning, "we paired policies that reduced the deficit with others that stimulated investment," triggering a "virtuous economic cycle of growth, deficit reduction, lower interest rates and thus more investment and growth," they write at the New York Times, drawing a contrast to President Trump's "opposite," "slash-and-burn" approach, which poses "huge risks to our economy."

Under Trump's tax and policy bill, which carries trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the highest earners and more than $1 trillion in healthcare cuts, the country's debt, already as big as its entire economic output, could grow to 135% or more, meaning "an annual budget deficit equaling 8% of gross domestic product, by 2035," the pair write. This obviously breaks with Trump's promise to "restore fiscal sanity to our nation" and not add to the federal debt, they note.

But instead of recognizing that "we cannot achieve the sound fiscal trajectory required for longer-term prosperity without significant tax increases," Trump's team is "employing accounting gimmicks" that essentially resort to "magical thinking." For instance, the administration claims no Americans will lose healthcare coverage when the reality is that "over 11 million people will lose insurance," which "could translate to at least 100,000 preventable deaths over the next decade," write Rubin and Summers, concluding "a responsible Congress" would reject the bill "that is more budget busting than big and beautiful." Read the piece in full here.