Economist Calls Trump, Clinton Economic Platforms 'Disappointing'

Economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin called this presidential election a ’disappointing moment’ in regard to the economic platforms proposed by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, spoke at the IT Best of Breed conference in Atlanta, hosted by CRN parent The Channel Company.

’[Clinton's] platform, in particular the Democrats in general, appear to have given up on economic growth. Her platform is really very simple. It says let’s create some new entitlement programs,’ Holtz-Eakin said.

Those programs include free college, subsidized childcare, pre-K education, and coverage of out-of-pocket health-care costs. Holtz-Eakin said she would pay for those programs through taxes on high-income people, which could create a difficult climate in the venture world.

’That doesn’t look like a pro-growth policy,’ he said.

Holtz-Eakin is most disappointed by Clinton’s failure to tackle the national deficit. ’We have a big problem and she does not have any plan to address that,’ he said.

But the economist doesn’t find a solution from Trump’s camp, either.

’Over on the Republican side, we have what is technically referred to as a 'hot mess,'’ he said.

Although Trump has talked about legitimate reforms in education and on the regulatory front, Holtz-Eakin said his more popular policies cripple any economic growth possibilities.

’He has got trade policies and immigration policies that it’s just hard to even charitably call 'pro-growth.' The promise to deport every illegal immigrant in two years is a mind-blowing promise,’ he said.

’From a sort of overall growth perspective, these are two very underwhelming platforms. They’re different, but neither seems to come to grips with the sort of fundamental problems that we have,’ he added.