White House Council of Economic Advisors Chair Stephen Miran on Sunday dismissed former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and other critics are just “doom-mongering” over the “Big Beautiful Bill” signed into law by President Donald Trump over the July 4th weekend, and not for the first time.

Speaking with George Stephanopoulos just after Summers was interviewed on the latest This Week from ABC News, Miran blew off the dramatic pronouncements of danger and death made by Summers and others as “fear-mongering” that will turn out to be wrong, arguing that it’s happened several times before.

Stephanopoulos began by bringing up Summers, who claimed in his remarks that the bill would cause “2,000 days of death” such as have happened in Texas as a result of the catastrophic flooding.

“You heard Mr. Summers right there. He starts out saying the bill is dangerous, huge risks.”

“Look, I think that there’s been a lot of — a lot of doom-mongering, a lot of scare-mongering, and this isn’t the first time, by the way,” Miran said. He argued that similar warnings were made about Trump’s tariffs on China during his first term, but that there was “no meaningful economic inflation, no meaningful economic slowdown” like what had been predicted.

“Everything was actually pretty OK in response to the tariffs last time,” he said.

Stephanopoulos brought Miran back to the specific topic of the bill’s passage, and the remarks from Summers in the prior interview.

“This increase in the debt, he says that every major economist who doesn’t have a political agenda, agrees that this is going to pose a danger to the economy because of the increased debt service payments,” Stephanopoulos said.

“I don’t think that that’s true at all,” Miran replied. “And I think the historical record is on our side. It’s the same combination of policies, tax cuts, deregulation, trade renegotiation, and energy abundance that gave us astounding economic growth in the president’s first term, 2.8 percent until the pandemic.”

When Stephanopoulos asked why not to believe the CBO’s prediction of over 10 million people losing health coverage as a result of the bill, Miran said, “Well, because they’ve been wrong in the past.”

He offered an example of a previous prediction by the CBO that a Republican action would cause millions to lose their insurance, saying that it didn’t happen.

“The number was not very significantly changed at all. It was a tiny fraction of that,” he said. “And so, they’ve been wrong in the past.

He concluded that, had the bill not been passed and signed into law, then “eight to nine million people would’ve lost their insurance for sure, as a result of the biggest tax act in history creating a huge recession.”

STEPHANOPOULOS:
You just heard Mr. Summers right there. He starts out saying the bill is dangerous, huge risks.

MIRAN: Thanks for having me. Look, I think that there’s been a lot of — a lot of doom-mongering, a lot of scare-mongering, and this isn’t the first time, by the way. During the president’s first term, lots of folks said that the president’s historic tariffs on China during the first term were going to be terrible for the economy. And there was no lasting evidence of that whatsoever. There was no meaningful economic inflation, no meaningful economic slowdown. Everything was actually pretty OK in response to the tariffs last time.

And thus far again, this time, we’ve had a repeat of the same performance, whereby lots of folks predicted that it would end the world, there would be some sort of disastrous outcome. And once again, tariff revenue is pouring in. There’s no sign of any economically significant inflation whatsoever, and job creation remains healthy.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Job creation does remain healthy. But let’s talk about the Bill to begin. I want to get back to tariffs in a second. This increase in the debt, he says that every major economist who doesn’t have a political agenda, agrees that this is going to pose a danger to the economy because of the increased debt service payments.

MIRAN: Yeah, I don’t think that’s — I don’t think that that’s true at all. And I think the historical record is on our side. It’s the same combination of policies, tax cuts, deregulation, trade renegotiation, and energy abundance that gave us astounding economic growth in the president’s first term, 2.8 percent until the pandemic. And that’s exactly what we forecast again, very similar numbers.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That was one year.

MIRAN: No, no, no, 2017 to 2019. The annualized rate over those three years was 2.8 percent. Right? Very high economic growth as a result of these same policies. And that’s just a statistical fact. And so, what the people who predict big deficits don’t understand is that economic growth is going to soar in response to these policies. If you give massive incentives for investment, huge incentives for new factories, full expensing on new factories, full expensing on equipment, full expensing on R&D expenditures, that incentivizes more of this stuff.

You’re going to get more people investing in factories as a result of these tax benefits. More investment means more income. More income means more tax revenue. And as a result, deficits go down.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why should we not believe the CBO when they say that something approaching a little more than 11 million people are going to be — are going to lose their healthcare coverage because of the Medicaid cuts?

MIRAN: Well, because they’ve been wrong in the past. When Republicans repealed the individual mandate penalty during the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the president’s first term, CBO predicted that there was going to be about 5 million people losing their insurance by 2019. And you know what? The number was not very significantly changed at all. It was a tiny fraction of that. And so, they’ve been wrong in the past.

And look, if we don’t pass the — if we didn’t pass the Bill, eight to nine million people would’ve lost their insurance for sure, as a result of the biggest tax act in history creating a huge recession. The best way to make sure people are insured is to grow the economy, get them jobs, get them working, get them insurance through their employer. Creating jobs, creating a booming economy is always the best way to get people insured.

Watch the clip above via ABC News.

The post ‘Doom-Mongering’: WH Economist Says Summers, CBO Wrong on Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill and ‘It’s Not the First Time’ first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/Na8w6jQ