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Another day, another glimpse into the mind of Donald Trump.
The president elect’s latest tweet saw him thank himself for the results of research by the New York-based Conference Board.
The research is indeed positive, showing consumer confidence in the US is at its highest level since August 2001.
Trump now has to live up to those expectations.
Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, said: “The post-election surge in optimism for the economy, jobs and income prospects, as well as for stock prices which reached a 13-year high, was most pronounced among older consumers.
“Looking ahead to 2017, consumers’ continued optimism will depend on whether or not their expectations are realised.”
Broadly his economic plan is to create 25 million new manufacturing jobs by removing regulations and cutting taxes but his transition team has yet to say how they will measure economic success.
If Trump imposes tariffs on imports as he has said this will actually be likely to increase prices for US consumers and US manufacturers who source materials from abroad.
Additionally, a number of the manufacturing jobs available in October were left unfilled suggesting employers would struggle to fill an extra 25 million vacancies due to a shortage of the relevant skills.
James Pethokoukis, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, told Politico: “He’s likely to be unsuccessful on any sort of broad increase in U.S. manufacturing jobs.
“That line may blip up or down based on how the economy is doing but these are long-term trends that aren’t likely to change.
”The president-elect judges his own personal wealth based on his own feelings.
“So on any given day, he could just decide based on his feelings that America is great.”
Other experts have predicted an initial Trump surge in the US economy could be followed by negative effects.
Nobel prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman, told the Guardian: “Trumpism will have dire effects, but they will take time to become manifest.
“In fact, don’t be surprised if economic growth actually accelerates for a couple of years.”
These “dire effects” could be “unthinkable annual deficits and eventually slower economic growth, higher interest rates and only modest wage increases”.
Thanks Donald!
