Biden Blaming Soaring National Debt on — Wait for It — Trump

Press secretary comes up with the Big Lie, which she’s calling ‘trickle down debt,’ and blames the Trump tax cuts.

AP/Evan Vucci, file
President Trump after signing the tax bill at the White House, December 22, 2017. AP/Evan Vucci, file

Once again, Team Biden shows they are completely incapable of telling the truth about the economy, or economic policy.  

Celebrating a $34 trillion debt milestone, President Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, decided to blather on in the White House press room about — wait for it — hang on — oh yes — how the Trump tax cuts have caused the debt to rise to a new record. 

Of course, she offers up not a single number in support of this untruth. Just the old authoritarian idea that if you say something often enough, people will believe it. Well, as every Bidenomics poll shows: nobody’s believing them.  

Here’s what Ms. Jean-Pierre said: “There’s a trickle-down debt. If you think about it, Republican tax cuts are responsible, about 90 percent of it. Of the increase in the debt as a share of the economy over the last two decades.” 

She added: “You’ve heard the president speak to this of what he has done to certainly lower the debt. He signed legislation to lower the deficit by $1 trillion. Then his agenda would cut the deficit another $2.5 trillion by making the wealthy pay their fair share.” 

Now, this Big Lie should’ve been put to rest last November, based on a new National Bureau of Economic Research paper in which economists from Harvard, Princeton, the University of Chicago, and the Treasury examined 12,000 corporate tax returns before and after the 2017 Trump tax cut bill.

Trump’s cuts slashed the tax from 35 percent to 21 percent, created bonus depreciation for business investment, and incentivized repatriation for foreign income to America. The economists found that business investment capital increased 7.4 percent over the long run, leading to higher real worker wages and increased worker productivity.  

The study also found that, after an initial decline in corporate tax revenues in the first few years, those were fully offset by revenue gains over the 10-year budget window. Numerous other studies have confirmed this blue-ribbon report. 

A former Obama adviser, Jason Furman, called the NBER study “the most convincing estimates of the response of investment to corporate tax changes that I have ever seen.” 

By the way, when Gallup last year asked people whether the amount of federal income tax they pay is too high, too low, or just right, only 3 percent said that taxes are too low — 60 percent say their income taxes are too high.  

There’s a mighty big deficit and debt problem, but it comes from spending too much, not taxing too little. Biden argues that his policies have cut budget deficits — an assertion that earned him a Bottomless Pinocchio from the Washington Post.  

And the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office show a $2.7 trillion budget deficit by 2033 — the end of the most recent 10-year window. Cumulatively, Bidenomics will generate $20 trillion in additional deficits during the period.  

As a share of the economy, deficits will run 6.9 percent of GDP. The 30-year average is 3.6 percent. Publicly held debt will rise to $46 trillion over 10 years. And budget spending outlays will average 24 percent of GDP compared to a 50-year average of only 20 percent.  

Thank you, Bidenomics. On top of all that, the National Association of Manufacturers has estimated that under Mr. Biden, federal regulations have exploded to an estimated $3 trillion, falling disproportionally on small businesses.  

And, according to the highly accurate I&I/TIPP poll, only 34 percent of Americans say they’re better off than four years ago. Even among self-identified Democrats, only half are willing to claim they’re better off under a Democratic president.  

One key reason for this pessimism is Mr. Biden’s crisis of plunging affordability, where real average weekly earnings over the past three years has fallen from $399 to $380 — a drop of $19, or 4.7 percent.  

Inflation is slower, but prices are still significantly higher for essentials like groceries, gasoline, and electricity. During the Trump tax years, after policies of lower taxes and deregulation, middle class family incomes went up more than $6,000.  

During the Biden years, typical family incomes have dropped $4,000. Remember, Reagan versus Carter in 1980? Could be a repeat.

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business Network.


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