While there is clearly a political chasm between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the race for the White House, both are promising a notable increase in growth for the American economy. How each arrives at the end point though is interesting.
How each arrives at the end point though is interesting. Both are targeting a rise in growth from current rates of between 1 to 2% to closer to the historical mean of between 3 and 4% a year. Both are proposing a Keynesian style infrastructure spending plan too. Clinton has announced $500bln in direct and loan funded spending on road, rail and hospital projects, but what is not clear is how she will overcome the resistance to a similar plan that President Obama has been fighting for
President Obama has been fighting for over the last eight years. Trump, on the other hand, says that figure of half a trillion dollars is not enough. As at the time of recording Trump has yet to detail his proposals, but one area where he is planning to garner support is through
As at the time of recording Trump has yet to detail his proposals, but one area where he is planning to garner support is through a liberalisation of the US energy policy. On tax, Trump has announced that GDP would be boosted by giving every income group a tax cut, with more than a million more Americans taken out of taxation altogether. Corporation tax would drop from 35% to 15% and US manufacturers would also receive a special rate of tax on expenditure.
Clinton meanwhile also talks of tax cuts but this would be limited to middle income earners and small businesses. She talks of ‘Fair growth’ with a raise the minimum wage, more women in the workplace and a share of company profits going to employees.
To pay for this Clinton is expected to raise income taxes for some and closing loop holes both at a corporate and at a personal level. On jobs, Trump has pledged 25mln new positions found through rolling back the state while Clinton talks of a continuation of the Obama jobs strategy which has created 5.7mln extra positions since just before the recession hit in late 2007. However the proposals come as ratings agency
Moody’s says that whatever the outcome of the election, there are downside risks, heightened by the ambivalent approach that both Clinton and Trump have to international trade. In the wake of the UK’s Brexit vote and a growing political popularism across Europe, the US is now starting to look inwardly on trade too, which Moody’s says will hit the US growth and global GDP at the same time.