Trumpanomics and US federal debt: fantasies over facts

Washington

TRUMPANOMICS doesn't compute. The media keep piling on Donald Trump, because he keeps saying things that are controversial, impractical, undesirable and - in some cases - simply impossible. Into this last category has now tumbled something new: Mr Trump told The Washington Post reporters Robert Costa and Bob Woodward that he could eliminate the US$19 trillion federal debt over "a period of eight years". He won't, even if he wins in a landslide.

To explain: You can't increase military spending (which Mr Trump has promised), preserve Social Security benefits (also a Trump promise), enact a huge tax cut (another proposal) and simultaneously pay off the debt. Mr Trump's budget is awash in glaring contradictions. The math doesn't work. It's vi…