The Trump economy, three years in: What the numbers say

All this while being fought tooth and nail by emotionally disturbed politicians on both sides.

They were perfectly content with 1.5 to 2% GDP growth which was destroying the very Middle Class they were running around pretending to be concerned about. That type of low growth rate over time is a huge risk for this country and social stability. Had we continued down that path another 8 years there would have been large social upheavals in our cities and the left's siren songs of Socialism would have been much more enticing to the larger population. Obama didn't seem to care on whatever the growth rate was.

Actually he stated his priorities and approach already, most people were too busy criticizing him vs listening. Your correct he did promise to balance the budget but he also said second term for that. Biggest reason and the reason he is focused on all sorts of stimulus this term to expand the Economy rapidly to a much higher level. His strategy is that will make budget cutting easier because it will be burning the candle at both ends. Economic growth will be pushing the Economy to expand at 3% or above rate sustained, then he will start pulling back on government spending watching the impact on the growth rate as he does that. It is easier to achieve a balanced budget with a rapidly growing economy vs one stagnating at 1.5 to 2% GDP growth because the higher growth rate of the economy produces a spread above the inflation rate calculations on some of the budget increases. He has to move fast though next term if inflation starts an upward trend and it is faster than his growth % then he is screwed. So the book is still open on balancing the budget and National debt but he doesn't have that many more years to act on it before growth slows or inflation comes back. Initially he just needs to get the annual GDP higher than the total National Debt amount that is the largest hump after that cutting it back further should be easier. The window is closing fast so he does not have a lot of time next term to do that.

Also, I gave credit to the wrong guy above. Kudlow is in charge of Economic direction and policy and Trump is listening to him. These are not Trumps ideas we are following as a country in the area of Economics. Kudlow used to be a FOX BUSINESS news contributor and you can still find him on that network even though he is officially part of the Trump administration now. He is a very intelligent Economist and has outlined the full plan they intend to follow through the end of the second term. None of the other cable channels has really interviewed him beyond Fox Business and the other channels prefer to try and get Trump to answer the questions........which he steers clear of because they are Kudlow's ideas he is implementing.