ECONOMY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration’s rosy view of the economy is increasingly diverging from a decidedly more cautious outlook from other prognosticators, including economists at the Federal Reserve and elsewhere, who are warning that growth is slowing, in part because of the president’s own policies. The side that turns out to be correct could heavily influence President Trump’s odds of re-election. His team has predicted that inflation-adjusted growth will average 3 percent through 2024, a rate that far exceeds what other economists believe the United States economy is capable of, barring sharp growth in the labor force and worker productivity. Many economists say last year was an outlier, fueled by a brief boost of fiscal stimulus: Growth appears to have topped 3 percent in 2018 for the first time in a decade. Yet Mr. Trump’s advisers say there is no reason to doubt the economy will achieve such heights again this year.”
–Jim Tankersley, “Trump Says the Economy Is Unstoppable. Most Economists Say Otherwise.” The New York Times online, January 29, 2019