Donald Trump tries to explain economics to the Economist:Hilarity ensues

[Jacque67 7,328]

Donald Trump has now spent enough time listening to Republican economic advisers that he can give an interview to The Economist in which he attempts to regurgitate the ideas that have been fed him. At various points in the interview, Trump tries and fails to think of the word “reciprocity.” (“We need reciprocality in terms of our trade deals,” he asserts.) Asked to flesh out his vision for a fair NAFTA in more detail, he can only come up with synonyms for “big”:

It sounds like you’re imagining a pretty big renegotiation of NAFTA. What would a fair NAFTA look like?

Big isn’t a good enough word. Massive.

Huge?

It’s got to be. It’s got to be.

The interview really starts to go downhill when Trump explains his tax plan:

Another part of your overall plan, the tax reform plan. Is it OK if that tax plan increases the deficit? Ronald Reagan’s tax reform didn’t.

Well, it actually did. But, but it’s called priming the pump.

It is in fact well known among economists and policy experts that the 1986 Tax Reform Act was designed to be revenue neutral. The interviewer lets this go and continues:

[Jacque67 7,328]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/05/trump-explains-economics-to-the-economist-hilarity-ensues.html

[smilesammich 10,727]

 

Quote

But beyond that it’s OK if the tax plan increases the deficit?

It is OK, because it won’t increase it for long. You may have two years where you’ll … you understand the expression “prime the pump”?

Yes.

We have to prime the pump.

It’s very Keynesian.

We’re the highest-taxed nation in the world. Have you heard that expression before, for this particular type of an event?

Priming the pump?

Yeah, have you heard it?

Yes.

Have you heard that expression used before? Because I haven’t heard it. I mean, I just … I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good. It’s what you have to do.

It’s …

Yeah, what you have to do is you have to put something in before you can get something out.

 

[Teddy B 17,252]

6 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

 

 

A small part of me feels bad for him.

[smilesammich 10,727]

Just now, Teddy B said:

A small part of me feels bad for him.

it's too bad he doesn't have anyone who cares about him enough to tell him what an idiot he is. what's weird is that trump supporters aren't typically of the 'every kid deserves trophy' crowd and yet..

 

anyone, dwayne has my vote. trump is a jabroni!

 

[Teddy B 17,252]

2 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

it's too bad he doesn't have anyone who cares about him enough to tell him what an idiot he is. what's weird is that trump supporters aren't typically of the 'every kid deserves trophy' crowd and yet..

 

Like some of the posters here, Trump suffers from the Dunning Kruger effect. If someone told him how dumb he was, he'd just fire them.

 

Quote

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein relatively unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate. The bias was first experimentally observed by David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University in 1999.

 

[smilesammich 10,727]

9 minutes ago, Teddy B said:

Like some of the posters here, Trump suffers from the Dunning Kruger effect. If someone told him how dumb he was, he'd just fire them.

 

 

i've always just called it silver spoon disease. 

[Jacque67 7,328]

1 hour ago, smilesammich said:

 

 

 

[CaliCat 3,957]

1 hour ago, Teddy B said:

Lhe Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein relatively unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate. The bias was first experimentally observed by David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University in 1999.

 

 

 

Can't you just post a pix (photo), instead of the long (very windy) explanation? 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2017 by CaliCat

[Jacque67 7,328]

Lol

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

2 hours ago, Jacque67 said:

Donald Trump has now spent enough time listening to Republican economic advisers that he can give an interview to The Economist in which he attempts to regurgitate the ideas that have been fed him. At various points in the interview, Trump tries and fails to think of the word “reciprocity.” (“We need reciprocality in terms of our trade deals,” he asserts.) Asked to flesh out his vision for a fair NAFTA in more detail, he can only come up with synonyms for “big”:

It sounds like you’re imagining a pretty big renegotiation of NAFTA. What would a fair NAFTA look like?

Big isn’t a good enough word. Massive.

Huge?

It’s got to be. It’s got to be.

The interview really starts to go downhill when Trump explains his tax plan:

Another part of your overall plan, the tax reform plan. Is it OK if that tax plan increases the deficit? Ronald Reagan’s tax reform didn’t.

Well, it actually did. But, but it’s called priming the pump.

It is in fact well known among economists and policy experts that the 1986 Tax Reform Act was designed to be revenue neutral. The interviewer lets this go and continues:

Edit:oops didnt see the rest of the thread

Edited May 11, 2017 by ccneat

[Jacque67 7,328]

He's a genius

[yuna628 9,680]

Wow his definition of priming the pump is genius... somewhere there's a Freudian euphemism he's thinking of, right?

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

Trump is the man.  He'll eventually get his policies in place.  The Democrats are trying their best to prevent him from doing so, so they can then cry about him not doing anything (that they want). 

Edited May 11, 2017 by Eric-Pris

[ready4ONE 5,400]

1 hour ago, Eric-Pris said:

Trump is the man.  He'll eventually get his policies in place.  The Democrats are trying their best to prevent him from doing so, so they can then cry about him not doing anything (that they want). 

As Steve Martin once said "Comedy is not pretty."