From a small northwestern observatory…

Paul Krugman and I don’t necessarily agree on everything, either in politics or economics, but I respect his research (and yes, envy his Nobel Prize).  That said, he has an insightful piece on his blog about The Donald’s economic projections, which both Paul and I find probably untenable.  I encourage you to read it here.

In short, The Donald projects 3% to 3.5% GDP growth throughout his tenure in the White House.  Under Reagan, it was at the lower end of this scale, and under Clinton it hit 3.7%.  Remember that both of those presidents inherited crappy economies, and so  a pendulum bounce in GDP would have been expected.  The Donald is inheriting a healthy overall economy (admittedly, with pockets of problems).  As such, growth in the 2+% range is more likely. So why are they projecting such glossy numbers?  In short, they back into what they need to say in order to fit their rosy projections.

I would note that the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors sits vacant as of this writing, with no nominee in the offing.  This Council serves the president, among other ways, by putting a reasonableness test on just such projections.  Truly excellent economists have served on this Council thru the years, from all sides of the economic spectrum (and yes, there are more than two).  In the absence of trained, academic economists in this role, these projections are left up to whim.

Unlike Paul K, I have some hope that Paul Ryan may be a voice of sanity here.  He seems to understand that balance sheets need to balance.  Let’s see how that works out.