Trump’s Chief Economic Adviser, Larry Kudlow, made it clear that the Trump administration’s “plan” to address income inequality is to pretend it doesn’t exist.
Near the end of his Fox News Sunday interview with Kudlow today, host Chris Wallace asked the Trump adviser to respond to Democratic presidential candidates addressing income inequality at the debates last week.
“I just don't understand in general,” Kudlow said. “I don't understand what planet they're describing. The United States economy is booming. It's running at roughly 3 percent average since President Trump took office two and a half years ago.” Kudlow cited low unemployment and growth in incomes and wages among blue-collar and nonsupervisory workers as proof the little people just don't appreciate how good they have it.
“We just had the best June stock market, the Dow Jones, in over 80 years. That's going to fill up the 401(k)s of middle-class folks everywhere,” Kudlow crowed.
But Wallace pressed the point. “Let me interrupt your campaign speech,” he began. “There is clearly a stark income inequality in this country.” He then played a clip of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders stating, “At a time when we have three people in this country owning more wealth than the bottom half of America while 500,000 people are sleeping on the streets today, we think it is time for change, real change.” (Sanders' got his facts right).
Wallace asked, “If President Trump is re-elected in 2020, what specifically will he do to reduce, not eliminate, but to reduce the huge gap between the wealthy and the poor in this country?”
Spoiler alert: nothing.
I don't know what their factual basis is. Economic growth, a strong and durable prosperity cycle, and I will make this warning, some of the policies I've heard in some of these early debates, in my judgment would do great, great damage to this prosperity and jobs and income and wage cycle that we are experiencing.
So, somebody's got to do a little bit of fact-checking here on what some of these candidates are saying. I would simply say this -- the economy is strong, the narrative I'm hearing from the other side - it just ain't so.
Wallace didn’t even mention the fact that Trump is thinking of bypassing Congress in order to give the wealthy another tax cut.
Watch Kudlow demonstrate how little Trump cares about everyday Americans above, from the June 30, 2019 Fox News Sunday.
Published with permission from News Hounds.
