Political campaigns used to be laser-focused on the national debt. But in the current pandemic era, both parties have been willing to spend a lot of money to support the sagging economy.
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Late last week, we learned that the U.S. budget deficit widened to $984.4 billion in the fiscal year ending September 30, its highest level in seven years. The Trump administration and the Congressional Budget Office expect the deficit to rise over $1 trillion in the 2020 budget year, which began October 1 and the CBO estimates that the deficit will stay above $1 trillion over the next decade.
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After suffering a stinging defeat on healthcare, what’s next for the Trump economic agenda? The first lesson for the new President is that despite holding a majority in both the House and the Senate, lawmaking is complicated and difficult. That said, because they failed to clear their first legislative hurdle, will Trump and Speaker Ryan be able to enact the next item on their to do list, tax reform, not to mention infrastructure spending?
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"The simple message is the economy is doing well," Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen said in the press conference that followed the central bank’s third quarter-point rate hike in 15 months. She went on to say "We have confidence in the robustness of the economy and its resilience to shocks." You might be wondering what exactly “well” means. Let’s start with the long-term economic growth rate, which has averaged about three percent annually for the 50 years from 1966 through 2016.
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