- It looks like the Republicans on Capitol Hill, with the blessing of Donald Trump, are trying to repeal one big healthcare program and replace it with another big government entitlement
- They’re calling it TrumpCare
- First they were calling it ObamaCare Lght, but now they’re embracing the term, “TrumpCare”
- Whatever it is, it is not going to work
- It’s just going to be another disaster wrapped up in a different package
- But before I get into explaining this, I want to talk a little bit about the GDP numbers and the Atlanta Fed
- In my last podcast, I mentioned that even though the Fed was getting closer to the point at which it was going to raise interest rates again
- Even though it was talking tough on raising rates, the GDP estimates were collapsing
- Well, they collapsed again today
- Now the same Atlanta Fed that was at 1.8% for Q1 GDP is now at 1.3% as of today
- When we began the month of February –
- February 1st – they were looking for 3.4% GDP for the first quarter
- If you go back and listen to my podcast, at the time I recorded it
- I said, they’re kidding. They’ve got to be crazy – there’s no way we’re going to get 3.4%
- They’re going to have to come down, and that’s all they’ve done
- And now we’re at 1.3% and falling
- Now maybe part of that is because we got the worst trade deficit today in 5 years
- Although, I think the numbers were highly anticipated so I don’t know why that would have come as a surprise
- And we got Consumer Credit for December and it was a huge drop in the increase of credit card debt
- Meaning that consumers took on a lot less credit card debt than Wall Street expected
- Now that’s a good thing
- I don’t like it when Americans go deeper into debt to buy stuff
- You’ve got a bubble economy that’s 7%, people buying stuff they can’t afford
- And when they finally stop going deeper into debt you’ve got a problem
- If that’s where you’re getting your GDP
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