David Stockman: Trump Budget is Dead Before Arrival

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[Ed. Note: To see exactly what this former Reagan insider has to say about the Trump budget and the fiscal threats from the debt ceiling, David Stockman is sending out a copy of his book Trumped! A Nation on the Brink of Ruin… And How to Bring It Back to any American willing to listen – before it is too late. To learn how to get your free copy – CLICK HERE.]

David Stockman joined Fox Business to discuss President Trump’s budget plan going forward for 2017. The segment began by highlighting the White House and the Office of Management and Budget’s initiative to garner public feedback regarding government programs. Stockman, the former Budget Director under Ronald Reagan holds direct insight and experience into GOP leadership and presented the hard hitting facts as he saw them.

The Fox Business “After the Bell” host began the conversation by asking whether it is possible for a budget director to have any discretion over the efficiency in various institutions. Stockman did not hold back responding, “Absolutely not. The Trump budget is DBA, which means ‘dead before arrival.’ When you do what he’s already done by taking entitlements off the table, that’s $1.7 trillion, and say that the United States needs more for Veterans, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice Department and Border Control – that’s another $800 billion.”

“Even Trump has admitted we’ve got to pay interest on those, which is $300 billion. That’s most of the budget. When we start talking about efficiency and head counts for cuts, it doesn’t make any difference.”

David Stockman served in President Ronald Reagan’s White House as the Director for the Office of Management and Budget. He is also a two term Congressman and serves on the Board of Directors for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. His latest book, Trumped! Explores exactly what he believes President Trump must do in order to redirect the economy.

When prompted over why the government could have a more “squeezed” approach pushing through the Trump budget, Stockman responded, “Because all of those discretionary budgets are appropriated. That means they’re left up to Congress.” He went on to relay, “Either they’re entitlements, which spend by law for social security at a rate of around $1 trillion or for medicare at $600 billion. Then we have very minor areas like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which is funded annually at $7.5 billion. I agree, cut it by 30% but that would save about four hours worth of federal government spending annually.”

“Our national debt has doubled. Now Trump has no plan whatsoever to do anything about it. Then the White House held a press conference where both he and the Budget Director talked about more defense spending.” Then when asked by the Fox Business host about his take Stockman pressed, “We’re wasting money on defense like there’s no tomorrow.”

“Every time you save a dime, if you find an efficiency they spend it on something else… They were talking about more defense spending. NATO and the U.S is spending $800 billion a year right now. Russia is spending $50 billion. We’re spending sixteen times more than this country that is not really a threat to anybody.”

Going into hard analysis, David Stockman unleashed his raw analysis and continues to call the truth to his views on the various budget proposals being floated currently which ramp up defense spending heavily.

To catch the full interview with David Stockman covering the Trump budget on Fox Business – CLICK HERE.

If you’d like to learn how to score your copy of Stockman’s recent best-seller TRUMPED for FREE – CLICK HERE.

Thanks for reading,
Craig Wilson, @craig_wilson7
for the Daily Reckoning

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