Speaking at a Thursday meeting of the Economic Club of New York, Donald Trump made some ambitious promises, vowing to grow the economy by at least 3.5 percent per year, create a staggering 25 million jobs, cut taxes, and slash regulations while preserving entitlement programs.
In the address to the club and a “fireside chat” that followed, Trump didn’t get any pushback on the policy proposals, but offered very few details when he was pressed for specifics.
A policy dubbed Trump’s “Penny Plan,” as detailed in a statement posted online after the speech, includes a directive that there would be “no reductions to defense spending” and “Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid would be exempted” from annual spending cuts.
Trump also described the optimistic target of creating 25 million jobs. As Bloomberg points out, the country has added 7.7 million jobs over the past decade, which puts Trump’s goal at more than three times as many jobs as were created since 2006.
The nominee also promised that the economy would grow 3.5 percent during each year of a Trump administration. But since the last recession ended in 2009, economic growth has remained stable at around 2 percent, according to Bloomberg.
Both individuals and businesses could look forward to tax cuts under Trump’s plan, as he said he would slash business income tax rates to a flat 15 percent. When asked how he settled on that rate, Trump offered up a boilerplate variation of his campaign mantra of making American great again.
Trump didn’t offer up a projected cost for such a tax plan.
