Trump adviser says plan would break potential recession

Donald Trump’s senior economic adviser claims the Republican presidential nominee’s platform would help stave off a recession he says experts are predicting in the next few years.

Stephen Moore, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation and founder of the Club for Growth, said Wednesday that Trump’s plan would grow the economy by 4 percent each year. 

{mosads}While he ceded a recession could be unavoidable, Moore expressed confidence in Trump’s plan.

“It’ll be like adding another Texas to the U.S. economy,” Moore said at a question-and-answer session hosted by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB). 

When asked how he’d advise Trump in the White House on how to handle a recession, Moore insisted that Trump’s plan would be the best answer regardless of the circumstances.

“We have an economic growth model,” said Moore, who joined the Trump campaign this summer. “When Reagan rebuilt the American economy, he rebuilt the global economy.”

The last recession happened in 2008, triggering a financial crisis that tanked the global economy. The United States labor market has rebounded, but economic growth has failed to return to pre-recession levels.

Trump calls for massive tax cuts, repealing federal regulations including food safety measures and relaxing environmental protections. 

Gene Sperling, an economic adviser for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and former senior aide to Presidents Clinton and Obama, called the Trump plan unrealistic. The American economy hasn’t grown at 4 percent in decades, and Sperling said economic platforms should focus on what could be done for middle- and working-class voters.

“The whole premise of Secretary Clinton’s campaign are that thing aren’t good enough for middle-class families,” Sperling said at the CRFB event. “It’s not an afterthought. … It is the only thought.”

Sperling said Clinton would push to expand safety-net programs to guard against a recession.

The CRFB released analysis last week showing that both Trump’s and Clinton’s economic proposals would increase the national debt.

Moore also sought to clarify a part of Trump’s tax plan. Trump calls for a 15 percent tax on all businesses, including “pass throughs,” companies whose profits are filed through the owner’s personal taxes.

Moore said profit reinvested in the business would be taxed at 15 percent, but anything the owner takes home would be taxed at the appropriate individual rate.

“Whatever you retain within the business and invest it, you’re only paying 15 percent,” said Moore.