HILL, DON AWOL ON ECON
US economic growth has slowed to a crawl under President Obama, yet neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump is making the issue central to their presidential campaigns. Ignoring weak GDP: experts
It’s not the economy, stupid — but it should be.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are too busy trading barbs on hot-button topics like race and immigration to discuss the economy, which has slowed to a crawl under President Obama’s watch.
“The numbers are bad. There should be a concern about the weakness in the economy,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office.
“I would have thought that the economy would be at the center of the presidential campaign. Instead we’re hearing about which candidate is more racist. It’s crazy. It’s sad.”
Commerce Department figures released Friday show that real GDP increased by a mere 1.1 percent annualized rate in the second quarter of 2016.
That’s even below the modest 1.2 percent initially estimated.
The little growth the nation did see was attributed mostly to a burst of consumer spending.
All told, the economy grew a measly 1 percent in the first half of 2016.
But the problem of weak economic growth has largely been overshadowed by the personalities of this presidential race, experts say.
“The campaign has focused so much on Trump and Clinton’s character flaws that the poor performance of the Obama economy is going largely unnoticed,” explained Peter Morici, professor of international business at the University of Maryland.
“Also, the mainstream press is so negative on Trump that it is inclined to paint up the Obama record.”
Holtz-Eakin said Clinton and Trump have remained relatively quiet on economic issues because neither one has a strong pro-growth plan.
“Clinton is talking about tax increases and income transfer,” the economist said.
As for Trump, Holtz-Eakin said: “Being anti-trade and anti-immigration is not good for the economy.”
Trump has proposed reducing the number of tax brackets to three, topping out at 33 percent, instead of the current seven. He also wants to cut business taxes from 35 percent to 15 percent.
Clinton plans to hike taxes on wealthy households, raise the minimum wage nationwide and invest in infrastructure. She is also advocating an “exit tax” on corporations that merge with overseas companies to avoid US taxes.
Phillip Swagel, a professor of international economics at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, said Clinton is simply promising “a third Obama term” when it comes to economic policy.
“The US economy is growing and creating jobs, but the situation is still far from a satisfactory recovery,” he said.
“Clinton’s proposals are lackluster and inadequate, but Trump’s are nonexistent. And then there’s so much focus on the other issues . . . that the economy gets short shrift in the debate.”
Trump economic adviser David Malpass blasted the latest “abysmal” numbers, saying they prove Obama’s policies simply don’t work.
“Four percent growth is achievable, but Clinton wants to continue with a third term of Obama’s slow-growth policies,” he said in a statement.
“It may work for those like Clinton who sell access, but it doesn’t work for average Americans.”
Former New York GOP Sen. Al D’Amato said the sluggish economy could help Trump.
“This is more proof that the economy is limping along. It’s not good for the administration and Clinton,” D’Amato said.