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 virtually impossible to retire all the debt.