{"id":5329,"date":"2026-08-25T22:07:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5329"},"modified":"2026-08-25T22:07:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:07:56","slug":"trumps-new-fantastic-story-is-virtually-impossible-top-economist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5329","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s new ‘fantastic story’ is ‘virtually impossible’: top economist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Last week, the U.S. reached an alarming new milestone when the national debt surpassed $40 trillion. In the days that followed, the Trump administration voiced a solution that a leading budget economist has declared a \u201cfantastic story\u201d that is \u201cvirtually impossible.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Paid for in blood\u2019: Senior military officers alarmed at Trump firings<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a problem for 35 years,\u201d Trump told reporters Friday when asked about the debt. \u201cAnd what we have now \u2026 is we have tremendous growth. And the way you take care of debt is with growth, and we have tremendous growth. We\u2019ve never had growth like we have right now.\u201d Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent agreed on CNBC, saying, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing magic about the $40 trillion number. And we can grow our way out of that.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a \u201cfantastic story,\u201d says Kent Smetters, Boettner Professor of economics and public policy at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, who spoke with Fortune Magazine<\/u> about the administration\u2019s suggestion. \u201cUnfortunately,\u201d writes Fortune, \u201cProfessor Smetters \u2014 the faculty director of a fiscal analysis tool called the Penn Wharton Budget Model \u2014 says the plan is also \u2018pretty clearly\u2019 not feasible. He explained in an interview with Fortune: \u2018People often get the causality kind of opposite. They think more growth, less of a debt problem, and in reality, it\u2019s just the opposite \u2026 We deal with the debt issue in order to try to aid economic growth, not vice versa.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Fortune, the White House has proven a number of other \u201cfantastic\u201d solutions that haven\u2019t panned out. As Fortune explains, \u201cOriginally, President Trump had suggested that tariffs would pay down the national debt (the plan was quickly nixed by a Supreme Court ruling ordering the administration to repay approximately $100 billion in revenues that the justices deemed illegal). Trump later suggested a \u2018golden visa\u2019 strategy \u2014 selling rich immigrants visas at $5 million each \u2014 could pay down the national debt. The policies were novel, but economists broadly welcomed action by the Trump Administration on the fiscal picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump agriculture chief refuses to talk about where Americans get beef<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, however, a bond market \u201creckoning\u201d looms. According to Fortune, \u201cThe risk premium demanded by investors for holding the 30-year Treasury rose to over 5.3 percent in recent days, prompting U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to deploy $4 billion or more in unscheduled buybacks.\u201d And if the U.S. proves unable to pay its debt, it could result in a worst-case scenario: a default crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the flaws in the growth plan, policymakers will be aware they need some response on debt questions in the run-up to midterms,\u201d notes Fortune. \u201cIndeed, new research from the nonpartisan budget think tank the Peterson Foundation, conducted by the Democratic firm Global Strategy Group and the Republican firm North Star Opinion Research, found that only 10 percent of voters said the debt issue will not impact their ballot decision later this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Foundation\u2019s CEO Michael Peterson, \u201cWith the midterm elections approaching, voters are making it clear that they want candidates with a decisive plan to address our unsustainable budget and debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s own MAGA movement is launching an \u2018insurgency\u2019 against him<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, the U.S. reached an alarming new milestone when the national debt surpassed $40 trillion. 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