Economists Agree: Trump Is Full of Shit

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Republicans will be voting to take health care away from 24 million people in an hour or so, but while we wait for this vicious act of wanton cruelty to become official, let’s talk about President Trump’s tax plan. Will it pay for itself via supercharged economic growth? The IGM Forum asked a panel of economists:

Well, that’s pretty unani—wait. What’s that 5 percent of economists who strongly agree? Who the hell are these people?

The answer is Bengt Holmström of MIT and Kenneth Judd of Stanford. Seriously? Ha ha. No, just kidding. We think. The moderator adds this in comments: “Panelist meant to Strongly Disagree (question misread)….This is my best guess.”

So it was really 100 percent of economists who think the “plan” has zero chance of paying for itself. But maybe some enterprising reporter should ring up Holmström and Judd just to make sure.

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We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

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