Summary: Last quarter the Atlanta Fed’s Q1 GDP forecast was 3.4% in February. The most recent number was actually .7%. After all the negative economic data that came out today suggesting that Q1 could be revised lower, the Atlanta Fed came out with their forecast for Q2 GDP at 4.3%. How is this possible, with no economic data to support this projection? Either they believe their policies are still valid in the face of data on a downward trajectory, or they are simply acting as salesmen, promoting economic health regardless of the actual data.
- Today was Donald Trump’s 100th day as President of the United States
- The media is covering this event and looking back over the last 100 days
- Trying to assess the effectiveness of Trump’s presidency thus far
- What has he accomplished, how much progress has he made;
- I think the origin of assessing the first 100 days of a presidency goes back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Who of course became president during the Great Depression
- I think the President accomplished a lot during his first 100 days
- That’s been the benchmark for which future presidents have been judged
- It’s not about which President did the most good for the country during the first 100 days
- It’s just, “Who did the most?”
- Because, FDR did a lot, all of it harmed the economy
- Not only did FDR’s exacerbate and expand the depression,
- His actions had repercussions for decades
- We are suffering today from the mistakes that FDR made in his first 100 days
- He accomplished a lot, but he accomplished a lot of mistakes
- I would rather have a president do nothing for his first 100 days
- If a President just played golf for 100 days and did nothing
- Chances are he might be the best president we’ve ever had
- Most Presidents do damage to the economy during their first 100 days
- To the extent that they pass a law, chances are, the law just limited our freedom and reduced our standard of living
- That’s true for most politicians: doing nothing is better than doing something
- Because doing something normally means doing harm
- I wish politicians would take the Hippocratic Oath, “First do not harm”
- If politicians took that oath, they could not do anything
- To the extent that a President can undo the damage done by a previous President
- Then, he would be doing a good thing
- I recognize that some of the things that Trump is trying to do is to undo Obama’s mistakes
Podcast: Download
