{"id":41158,"date":"2025-11-16T10:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T10:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/41158\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T10:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T10:22:09","slug":"trumps-dinner-with-top-ceos-consisted-of-praising-a-booming-economy-while-addressing-tariff-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/41158\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s dinner with top CEO\u2019s consisted of praising a \u2018booming\u2019 economy while addressing tariff concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, some of the nation\u2019s top CEOs talked and laughed with\u00a0President Trump<\/a>\u00a0while enjoying dinner at the White House, chewing over a US economy that the president claims is headed for growth not seen since the days of the Gipper back in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

But privately, many left that night wondering if the president really knows the score. <\/p>\n

Tax cuts, deregulation and drill-baby-drill can do wonders to jolt growth, they all agreed. <\/p>\n

Tariffs, not so much. <\/p>\n

The president\u2019s proposed solutions, they believe, are destined to fall flat.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not all doom-and-gloom, of course, but the US economy is a far cry from the Reagan years of massive growth and low inflation, nor is there much evidence it\u2019s heading in that direction. <\/p>\n

\t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCharles Gasparino<\/p>\n

The president also appears unaware that the country\u2019s biggest economic problem is that of affordability.<\/p>\n

This is not just when it comes to homes, but persistently high inflation that is stoking voter anxiety according to every poll available.<\/p>\n

At the Wednesday dinner, Trump predicted GDP growth<\/a> of 6%, nearly double what it\u2019s growing now. <\/p>\n

More people working helps address the affordability problem, he argued. <\/p>\n

Higher tax revenues combined with tariffs will help pay down the budget deficit and lower costs even more.<\/p>\n

No one at the table \u2014 among them JPMorgan\u2019s\u00a0Jamie Dimon<\/a>, Goldman Sachs\u2019\u00a0David Solomon<\/a>\u00a0and BlackRock\u2019s\u00a0Larry Fink<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 spoke up at dinner with an opposing view, I am told. <\/p>\n

But privately, the attendees were far less sanguine. <\/p>\n

Those I spoke to believe based on all the data available, 6% GDP is a pipe dream. <\/p>\n

Tariffs will depress growth because less of our products will be sold overseas by countries that retaliate.<\/p>\n

Plus, inflation appears to be growing, not subsiding, again thanks to tariff costs. <\/p>\n

The affordability crisis is real and whatever Trump is doing isn\u2019t working thus far or the GOP wouldn\u2019t have lost all those races two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Or as one told me: \u201cTrump has some smart economic advisers, but a lot of yes men who simply tell him what he wants to hear,\u201d adding: \u201cI hope he\u2019s right about 6% economic growth because he will need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fears aren\u2019t a \u2018con job\u2019<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the \u201csolutions\u201d to affordability issues Trump has come up with. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s been floating ways to make home ownership more affordable like a 50-year mortgage, even as he beats up Fed chair\u00a0Jerome Powell<\/a>\u00a0to lower interest rates. <\/p>\n

The CEOs offered up their own solutions \u2014 mainly how to get average people buying more stocks. <\/p>\n

That could cover their retirement costs and make owning a home easier since stock returns, historically, have outpaced most other investments.<\/p>\n

I am told that Trump\u2019s advisers know things aren\u2019t so great, but to warn Trump that what he\u2019s doing isn\u2019t working is the fastest way to lose your job. <\/p>\n

And Trump, of course, wouldn\u2019t be the first president to govern in a bubble.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joe Biden<\/a>\u00a0convinced himself that the border was secure, inflation was low and he was sentient enough to run for a second term.<\/p>\n

I can see how it\u2019s difficult for anyone close to Trump to lend credence to the notion of a \u201ccrisis\u201d of affordability because it appears to support the left\u2019s agenda. <\/p>\n

But Trump has called it a Dem \u201ccon job\u201d and recently told my Fox colleague\u00a0Laura Ingraham<\/a>\u00a0that the public\u2019s economic anxiety is \u201cfake.\u201d <\/p>\n

That won\u2019t make it go away. <\/p>\n

It also robs us of a chance for a serious debate on how to fix this economy.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCharlie Gasparino has his finger on the pulse of where business, politics and finance meet\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up to receive On The Money by Charlie Gasparino in your inbox every Thursday.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Tax increase on MAGA<\/p>\n

That debate, unfortunately, didn\u2019t happen the other night with Trump, though several of the CEOs later told me the 50-year mortgage will raise home prices, not lower them, because people can borrow more and spread mortgage payments out further.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a slight of hand, of course, since borrowers will be paying the bank more interest over a longer period of time and accumulating less equity.<\/p>\n

Ditto for Trump\u2019s obsession with cutting rates to lower the cost of home ownership.<\/p>\n

What he doesn\u2019t seem to recognize is that inflation at 3% is still well above the \u201ctarget\u201d rate and that\u2019s on top of the massive increases that Biden\u2019s policies led to.<\/p>\n

Gas prices are going down, eggs cost less, but other stuff is costing more. <\/p>\n

The culprit seems to be his tariffs, lower than first pitched during \u201cLiberation Day\u201d but still adding to price pressures.<\/p>\n

Pushing Powell to lower rates in the face of persistent inflation will only make matters worse; inflation is a tax increase on the working class where it is felt the strongest since they can\u2019t speculate their way around it.<\/p>\n

It is a tax increase on MAGA.<\/p>\n

Again, Trump believes he will soon produce results that will make voters true believers: factory jobs will return, lower gas prices will stifle inflation, a 50-year mortgage will re-invigorate the American Dream. <\/p>\n

The GOP will cruise to majorities in the upcoming congressional midterms based on a Reaganesque economic boom.<\/p>\n

Like the CEO I interviewed, I hope he\u2019s right. <\/p>\n

The evidence is starting to suggest that he\u2019s not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, some of the nation\u2019s top CEOs talked and laughed with\u00a0President Trump\u00a0while enjoying dinner at the White…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[288,23718,153,3365,23719,6079,2375,22120,874,13451,23720,9,11,10,2083,17565,5561],"class_list":{"0":"post-41158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-david-solomon","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-gdp","13":"tag-inflation","14":"tag-jamie-dimon","15":"tag-jerome-powell","16":"tag-joe-biden","17":"tag-larry-fink","18":"tag-laura-ingraham","19":"tag-new-york","20":"tag-new-york-headlines","21":"tag-new-york-news","22":"tag-tariffs","23":"tag-tax-cuts","24":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}