Donald Trump embraced his title as the “King of Debt” in a CBS interview out Wednesday, but clarified that he liked debt for his companies but not “for the country.”
“Nobody knows debt better than me. I’ve made a fortune by using debt and if things don’t work out, I renegotiate the debt,” Trump said. “Well, you go back and you say, ‘hey, guess what? The economy just crashed. I’m going to give you back half.'”
The real estate mogul said that he wouldn’t actually use this strategy to reduce the United States’ $19 trillion debt, instead proposing that the country “borrow debt, make longer-term debt.”
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen testified in a Senate Banking Committee Hearing on Tuesday that Trump’s proposal, first made in May, that the U.S. “make a deal” with creditors and not fully pay back the national debt would have “very severe” consequences.
Trump’s camp walked back those claims at the time after they stirred an outcry in financial circles, and he insisted to CBS that he “wouldn’t renegotiate the debt.”
In a speech Tuesday, Hillary Clinton charged that a Trump presidency would trigger another recession, citing an Independent Tax Policy Center report that found that his tax plan would increase the national debt by $10 trillion over the next decade. A Moody’s Analytics report out Monday also found that Trump’s economic policies would have dire consequences.
Trump pushed back at the economists’ conclusions, insisting that he’ll create new economic growth by lowering tax rates and luring companies back to the U.S.
“I’m going to bring tremendous amounts of money, tremendous amounts of jobs, tremendous numbers of companies,” Trump told CBS.
“I like debt. For me. I don’t like debt for the country. I like debt for my company” – #Trump on @cbsthismorninghttps://t.co/9ue6uM2eU6
— Norah O’Donnell (@NorahODonnell) June 22, 2016
Editor’s note: This post originally said that the Independent Tax Policy Center found that Trump’s tax plan would increase the national debt by over $10 billion. The correct figure is $10 trillion.
Don’t forget ponies, Don! Lots of us want ponies. Bring those too.
… and here I thought con men were supposed to be cunning and sharp. Sad. Very sad.
Details please???
Trump :
"Anyone who doesn’t like balloons is un-american " –
And unicorns! Rainbow unicorns!!
People often think that CEOs and businesspersons will be great for the economy. However, it actually often turns out that CEOs are geniuses at microeconomics (the economics of a single firm) and total novices when it comes to macroeconomics (the economics of a national economy). The Donald just seems to be another case in point.