Right before the US Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017, President Donald Trump proclaimed: “It’ll be fantastic for the middle-income people and for jobs, most of all... I think we could go to 4%, 5% or even 6% [gross domestic product growth], ultimately. We are back. We are really going to start to rock.”
A year later, it’s very clear that the tax cuts boosted GDP and jobs a bit — just for one year. Its effects are fading, as US GDP growth appears likely to weaken in 2019. The only things that “rocked” were corporate profits and the stock market. And we’re facing trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see.
