The U.S. government deficit will surge above $20 trillion in under eight weeks, and President-elect Donald Trump will be helpless to stop it, Marc Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, told CNBC.
Faber, who is also known as Dr. Doom for his typically downbeat calls condemned monetary policy in the Western world and stressed it would not have mattered whether Clinton or Trump had been elected president as neither could turn the tide on government debt.
"Under Trump or under Clinton, the deficit will have gone up substantially. Monetary policy has essentially failed,” Faber said.
"Over the last 12 months, U.S. government's debt increased by 1.4 trillion dollars and will hit 20 trillion dollars very quickly… within a month or two," said Faber.
"Most informed observers know that Western democracies are basically bankrupt. The unfunded liabilities are a huge problem. The zero interest rates are a huge problem for pension funds and for insurance companies," said Faber.
Wall Street was caught off guard and unprepared as Donald Trump inched closer to winning the presidency, a result that few strategists, investors and economists took seriously in their preparation for the election, CNBC reported.
Traders rushed into safe havens such as gold and U.S. Treasurys, but many simply did not know what they would do when trading opened Wednesday, because of the uncertainty about the New York businessman's policies.
After dropping sharply as results trickled in indicating that the Republican standard bearer had a widening path to victory, trading rebounded. The Dow Jones industrials plunged 800 points in futures trading in the wee hours of election night, but climbed back as markets opened. It kicked off down roughly 30 points, before rising slightly in early market trading. The S&P 500 also rebounded after falling 5% in the aftermath of Trump's triumph. The index was up 0.5% in early morning trading.
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).
© 2026 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.