Kevin Hassett, the White House’s chief economist, accused me of an ad-hominem attack against his analysis of the Trump administration’s tax plan. I am proudly guilty of asserting that it is some combination of dishonest, incompetent and absurd. Television does not provide space to spell out the reasons why, so I am happy to provide them here.

I did an interview with Sara Eisen and Scott Wapner on CNBC on Friday afternoon. During the interview Scott challenged my criticisms of the Trump administration's tax cut and asserted that such a cut would be sound policy for the economy by noting that Jamie Dimon is in favor of it. Scott noted that the JP Morgan chairman and chief executive recently said, “I would hire more workers if Trump's tax reform passes,” and Scott used that quote as evidence that the Trump administration is justified in claiming a corporate tax cut would benefit workers.

Nick Burns writes that he has been impressed for several years now by Lagarde’s leadership qualities and her professional and effective management of the IMF. She is clearly a strategic thinker, is articulate and unafraid to take on difficult questions. She is also most definitely a listener who connects well with her audience.

The Trump administration’s tax plan is not a plan. It is a melange of ideas put forth without precision or arithmetic. It is not clear enough to permit the kind of careful quantitative analysis of its expected budget costs, economic effects and distributional implications that precedes such legislation in a serious country.

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, delivered her annual state of the global economy speech in the JFK, Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School followed by a discussion with Nicholas Burns, Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations and Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University. In her address, Madame Lagarde quoted President John F. Kennedy stating that “the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” Mme. Lagarde adapted this statement to the economy, expressing that while our economy is currently experiencing an upswing, now is the time for reform. We must be proactive, not reactive. Additionally, Mme. Lagarde spoke about the importance of fighting corruption and climate change, empowering women, and addressing inequality. 

Madame Lagarde's speech was the inaugural event of the new Economic Diplomacy Initiative (EDI) - a joint program of the Future of Diplomacy Project and the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. EDI is co-chaired by Professors Burns and Summers, and aims to provide Harvard students with a sound understanding of the critical importance of economic diplomacy in a globalized world; specifically, the negotiation of agreements between multiple countries and multiple stakeholders.  

My modestly informed guess is that Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico will appear in history textbooks right next to Katrina and New Orleans. Puerto Rico’s unique territorial status and institutional constraints make the federal government’s response very difficult. And as I shall suggest in a subsequent post, the hurricane has greatly exacerbated Puerto Rico’s profound debt burden and development challenges. Yet one has to wonder why we are fanning the flames.

Speaking at an event organized by Robert Greenstein, president of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, I argued last week that unless our values have changed profoundly in an anti-government direction, the balance of pressures from economic change will lead to an expansion of the federal budget relative to gross domestic product. This was also the conclusion of a paper released by Paul Van de Water of the center. Excellent summaries were provided by Al Hunt and David Leonhardt.

Given recent controversies, I was interested to read National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn’s answer to a “why are you staying?” question put by Stuart Varney of the Fox Business Network last week. To his credit Cohn did not back away from his reservations about the president’s response to the Charlottesville violence. He said “Look, tax cuts are really important to me. I think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We haven’t done tax cuts in 31 years. So, to be a part of an administration that gets something done that hasn’t been done for 31 years is enormously challenging, enormously interesting to me.

I am returning from spending a day in Mexico City speaking with business and government leaders. Relative to my last visit to Mexico, in March, leaders have moved from being appalled and alarmed by the Trump administration to being appalled and bemused.