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Trump’s Nonsensical Claim He Can Eliminate $19 Trillion In Debt In Eight Years
Washington Post ^ | April 02, 2016 | Glenn Kessler

Posted on 04/03/2016 11:22:01 AM PDT by Steelfish

Fact Checker Trump’s Nonsensical Claim He Can Eliminate $19 Trillion In Debt In Eight Years

Donald Trump, in an interview with Bob Woodward and Robert Costa In a revealing interview, Trump predicts a ‘massive recession’ but intends to eliminate the national debt in 8 years

By Glenn Kessler April 2

The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Robert Costa sat down with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Here's how the interview went. Donald Trump: “We’ve got to get rid of the $19 trillion in debt.”

Bob Woodward: “How long would that take?”

Trump: “I think I could do it fairly quickly, because of the fact the numbers…”

Woodward: “What’s fairly quickly?”

Trump: “Well, I would say over a period of eight years. And I’ll tell you why.”

Woodward: “Would you ever be open to tax increases as part of that, to solve the problem?”

Trump: “I don’t think I’ll need to. The power is trade. Our deals are so bad.”

Woodward: “That would be $2 trillion a year.”

Trump: “No, but I’m renegotiating all of our deals, Bob. The big trade deals that we’re doing so badly on. With China, $505 billion this year in trade. We’re losing with everybody.”

— exchange during a Washington Post interview, March 31, 2016

Of all the wildly impossible assertions made by Donald Trump, the notion that he could eliminate the nation’s $19 trillion in debt in just eight years ranks near the top. Trump suggests he can manage this feat simply by cutting better trade deals.

If only it were that easy. As we have noted repeatedly, eliminating a trade deficit does not mean the money ends up in government coffers. (Morever, Trump is wrong to say the trade deficit with China is $505 billion; it’s $366 billion, according to the Census..... (READ ON)

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; US: New York
KEYWORDS: 1stcanadiansenator; abortion; angertrolling; barrybennett; bobwoodward; chrisjansing; consensuscracking; cruzisobama; cubanmistresscrisis; danielgabriel; deathpanels; demagogicparty; districtofcolumbia; energy; fishrot; forumsliding; gainingfullcontrol; glennkessler; globalistcruz; houseatreides; memebuilding; methane; moosebitsister; msnbc; needmorecowbell; negativity; noteligiblecruz; obamacare; obamarecession; obamataxhikes; opec; openboarderscruz; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; petroleum; robertcosta; spam; steelfish; tdspoopfest; topicdilution; topicrepostabsurdum; trump; ttiuwp; undecided2012; unipartymeme; unipartyposter; unipartyterror; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost; zerocare
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To: Steelfish

This is amzing. Trump got the WaPo to mention the debt for the first time since 2008.


101 posted on 04/03/2016 12:29:24 PM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
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To: SFConservative; Agnes Heep

No it won’t. The whole idea of creating a tariffs on these country looting fraudulent Free Trade laws, will keep entire industries from leaving the U.S. Those already off shore in Commie land will be rethinking where they put their companies.

Btw, the same companies who have zero allegiance to America, who’ve off shored millions of American jobs and entire industries, love all the taxes and regulations back in the U.S. They support them and lobby for them. It keeps their competitors back home in the U.S. in check and behind the 8 ball. Wink wink.


102 posted on 04/03/2016 12:30:47 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: SamAdams76
If we cut our national debt only 50% during eight years of Trump, I'll be happy.

I'd be happy it it just doesn't keep getting larger.

103 posted on 04/03/2016 12:31:59 PM PDT by AmusedBystander (The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next)
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To: Undecided 2012

Not offering SS to illegals and refugees that never paid into the system might help. Also, not hiring illegals that don’t pay into the system will increase both employment and tax revenues.


104 posted on 04/03/2016 12:34:00 PM PDT by Rusty0604
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To: Steelfish

That would make America great again.


105 posted on 04/03/2016 12:34:46 PM PDT by Doomonyou (Let them eat Lead.)
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To: CA Conservative

I have not forgotten how our Government works but you may have forgotten how people work.

Trump makes Washington shake in their boots precisely because he is going to speak out about what’s in the American people’s interest and what games are being played. That dialog with the people is not going to stop when he gets to Washington. The House, Senate and lobbyists are not going to be able to keep things under the table the way they do now, giving the American people lip service and lies. Trump will not tolerate the “do nothing” Congress; he will call them out 1 2 3 and they will scuttle from the spotlight.

I think the Washington cartel is a house of cards and they are going to be much easier to work with than the folks Trump is used to. Trump will have an agenda, and a plan. There will be some knockdown drag out but he has been there before with better players.

He will know what leverage to use on each player and which player is key. I think in the end they will be happy to work with him because the credit will reflect on them as well.


106 posted on 04/03/2016 12:35:49 PM PDT by JayGalt
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To: sphinx

No. An entitlement is something you did not earn. I paid into it all my life. It’s a return on my “investment”.

Section 8, food stamps etc. are entitlement.


107 posted on 04/03/2016 12:35:50 PM PDT by GeorgiaDawg32 (www.greenhornshooting.com - Professional handgun training.)
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To: SamAdams76

If we cut our national debt only 50% during eight years of Trump, I’ll be happy.

Exactly.


108 posted on 04/03/2016 12:37:54 PM PDT by Bailee
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To: Steelfish

When a normal politician comes into office and discovers the waste fraud and abuse their first instinct is to take their cut.

I’ve no doubt when Trump gets in, people are going to jail. Then, he’ll go after the Foreign aide packages including lopsided funding for NATO and the United Nations. But not before thrashing out deals with countries we protect on renegotiating our debt.

He will reduce military expenditure while actually increasing military expenditure upon our own military.

Stop thinking like a politician and think like a business man. Stop paying for things that either we don’t need or no longer operable.


109 posted on 04/03/2016 12:46:21 PM PDT by Fhios (Going Donald Trump is as close to going John Galt as we'll get.)
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To: JayGalt

You bet.

The White House comes with a complete television studio, and national daily briefing. Power of the press. Trump can take it to the microphone and cameras on a daily basis if needed.

Trump will have access to the entire file cabinet, all the in-house intel, data, investigations, backgrounds, financials, everything on those in D.C.

He can take it to the cameras and point fingers and name names. Broadcast what their motives are. Rock the podium and expose much of this corruption.


110 posted on 04/03/2016 12:46:41 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: jeffersondem
“And yet the buffoon has millions more votes than the blobfish.”

Bandwagon fallacy.

Do you pull your opinions out of your hat or do you have special numbers the rest of us can't see?

Looks like more than 2 million more votes (27% more votes; 38% more delegates) than the blowfish to me.

Trump, Donald John, Sr.

Votes 7,863,052 - 37.11% Delegates 752 - 30.42%

Cruz, Rafael Edward "Ted"

Votes 5,782,142 - 27.29% Delegates 469 - 19.82%

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/R

111 posted on 04/03/2016 12:46:51 PM PDT by JayGalt
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

Yeah!
***

Dick.G: AMERICAN!
aka: Gunny G
*****


112 posted on 04/03/2016 12:47:13 PM PDT by gunnyg ("A Constitution changed from Freedom, can never be restored; Liberty, once lost, is lost forever...)
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To: Steelfish

Obama: “Generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.”


113 posted on 04/03/2016 12:48:22 PM PDT by kabar
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To: GeorgiaDawg32

You do not get to redefine words that easily. Social Security is the original entitlement. And it is not an investment. It should be, but that would mean converting from pay as you go to a fully funded system. Bottom line, Social Security is a highly redistributive, non-means tested welfare system based on intergenerational transfers. It will collapse the moment the rising generation believes it will be less affluent than its predecessor. At that point, the peasants will realize that it is a money losing ponzi scheme and revolt.


114 posted on 04/03/2016 12:50:33 PM PDT by sphinx
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To: GeorgiaDawg32
Now, social security is NOT an entitlement. It worked for it, paid into it and deserve the benefits.

Sorry, you're mistaken. You weren't paying in to fund your personal Social Security benefits for all those years, you were paying into the system to pay for your parents' and grandparents' benefits. There was never an account with your name on it. Social Security is by definition an old age welfare program; it's a transfer program which taxes the young for the support of the old. When you retire, it will essentially be your progeny that is paying your freight.

115 posted on 04/03/2016 12:54:43 PM PDT by Sparticus (Tar and feathers for the next dumb@ss Republican that uses the word bipartisanship.)
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To: LS
It is very relevant to factor in the increase in job creation & productivity with more business friendly laws and economic opportunity for startups. When you get people off of welfare and paying taxes its a very powerful effect.

Total tax revenues have actually increased under the tax cuts of Reagan, Kennedy, and Bush. Annual revenues nearly doubled under Reagan's presidency, despite the fact the top tax rates were drastically cut! Balanced Politics.org

If we also cut back on the underground economy by simplifying and refocusing the tax structure the effect will be that much more powerful.

116 posted on 04/03/2016 12:54:44 PM PDT by JayGalt
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To: sphinx

Fine. Give me the option of a one time check, for everything I’ve paid in, plus some interest, and it’s a no brainer.

That won’t happen.


117 posted on 04/03/2016 12:56:34 PM PDT by GeorgiaDawg32 (www.greenhornshooting.com - Professional handgun training.)
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To: EternalVigilance
Get back to me when Trump agrees to eliminate every unconstitutional agency and program, including the socialist “entitlement” programs of the New Deal and the Great Society, and the Fed, and the IRS.

Until then, his claims are laughable.

So its all or none with you, perhaps because that way its impossible to fulfill your definition of success and you get to carp at anyone who tries to make a good start.

118 posted on 04/03/2016 12:57:00 PM PDT by JayGalt
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

It can be done, people won’t like it, goodies will go away, subsidies will go away. We cut now or reality does it later.


119 posted on 04/03/2016 12:59:33 PM PDT by Mrsgell
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To: Steelfish

So called “Fact Checking” is itself a nonsensical concept in this context. Here’s why:

A fact that can actually be checked is a generally agreed on matter of historical record. For example, if someone makes a statement that they have visited most if the 57 states, this is a claim that can be fact checked, because travel records can be produced and the word most is generally agreed mathematically to mean more than half.

On the other hand, claims like “we can cut taxes without adding debt, because the cuts will spur economic growth and increase the tax base and tax revenue” can not be fact checked.

In order to support or refute the claim, assumptions must be made regarding the amount of economic growth will come as a result of cutting taxes, and therefore the net change in tax revenues.

It is the same for debt reduction claims. The one making the claim can’t prove it as a fact, but neither can it be proven to be nonsensical.

Generally, those of us who push for reducing government taxes and spending, believe that the government is far far too big, and is choking off the economy. Who knows exactly how much growth is being stifled? Who cares? Just stop the taxing and spending - things will be better, debt will be eliminated by doing the opposite of what was done to create it.

Geberally, it is the Leftists that want big government who make the argument that “this is voodoo economics, this is nonsensical, studies show it is impossible to cut spending or taxes”


120 posted on 04/03/2016 1:01:17 PM PDT by enumerated
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