Lakhota
Diamond Member
The president-elect walked back what was always a wildly unrealistic campaign promise.
President-elect Donald Trump admitted in an interview with Time magazine that it will be difficult for him to reduce consumer prices, contrary to statements he made on the campaign trail this year.
Trump told Time in an hourlong interview for its “Person of the Year” feature that his presidency wouldn’t be a failure if he failed to bring the price of groceries down.
“I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will,” Trump said, according to the transcript.
Trump is right that it’s very hard to achieve across-the-board price reductions. Curbing inflation is only a matter of slowing the rate of price increases — actual economy-wide price drops typically don’t happen outside of a massive economic downturn.
Nevertheless, Trump repeatedly told voters during the campaign that electing him president would cause prices to tumble.
“Prices will come down,” Trump said during a rally in August. “You just watch: They’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast, not only with insurance, with everything.”
“We will end inflation and make America affordable again, and we’re going to get the prices down, we have to get them down,” Trump said at a rally in September. “It’s too much. Groceries, cars, everything. We’re going to get the prices down.”
“We will cut your taxes and inflation, slash your prices, raise your wages and bring thousands of factories back to America,” Trump said at a Georgia rally in October, reciting a line he used in speeches at several other events.
Trump also specifically promised to get gas prices down: “I will cut your energy prices in half within 12 months.”
Trump said during the campaign, and in his Time interview, that cutting regulations would reduce oil prices, which would supposedly drive price reductions everywhere else in the economy. One obstacle to the plan is that it would be up to energy companies, not the government, to ramp up oil production, and doing so would not necessarily be profitable for them. Another obstacle is that oil prices are set by a global market that U.S. doesn’t control.
Nevertheless, the idea that Trump’s election would solve complex economic problems was a core message of the Trump campaign.
More at the link below...
Is anyone surprised that Trump is backing down from his campaign promises? What do you think?
President-elect Donald Trump admitted in an interview with Time magazine that it will be difficult for him to reduce consumer prices, contrary to statements he made on the campaign trail this year.
Trump told Time in an hourlong interview for its “Person of the Year” feature that his presidency wouldn’t be a failure if he failed to bring the price of groceries down.
“I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will,” Trump said, according to the transcript.
Trump is right that it’s very hard to achieve across-the-board price reductions. Curbing inflation is only a matter of slowing the rate of price increases — actual economy-wide price drops typically don’t happen outside of a massive economic downturn.
Nevertheless, Trump repeatedly told voters during the campaign that electing him president would cause prices to tumble.
“Prices will come down,” Trump said during a rally in August. “You just watch: They’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast, not only with insurance, with everything.”
“We will end inflation and make America affordable again, and we’re going to get the prices down, we have to get them down,” Trump said at a rally in September. “It’s too much. Groceries, cars, everything. We’re going to get the prices down.”
“We will cut your taxes and inflation, slash your prices, raise your wages and bring thousands of factories back to America,” Trump said at a Georgia rally in October, reciting a line he used in speeches at several other events.
Trump also specifically promised to get gas prices down: “I will cut your energy prices in half within 12 months.”
Trump said during the campaign, and in his Time interview, that cutting regulations would reduce oil prices, which would supposedly drive price reductions everywhere else in the economy. One obstacle to the plan is that it would be up to energy companies, not the government, to ramp up oil production, and doing so would not necessarily be profitable for them. Another obstacle is that oil prices are set by a global market that U.S. doesn’t control.
Nevertheless, the idea that Trump’s election would solve complex economic problems was a core message of the Trump campaign.
More at the link below...
Trump Backtracks On Campaign Pledge To Bring Down Grocery Prices
Is anyone surprised that Trump is backing down from his campaign promises? What do you think?
