President Donald Trump and his economic team have handled the economy "magnificently" during the coronavirus pandemic, and there is no doubt that a rebound is coming, economist Ben Stein told Newsmax TV Tuesday.
However, Stein told Newsmax TV's "Greg Kelly Reports" that he's very concerned that the United States could have trouble meeting the debts it has incurred through the "breathtaking, necessary, but breathtaking" amount of debt through coronavirus relief packages that have already been passed.
"They learned all the lessons of the Great Depression in the 30s, and all of the good lessons of the Great Recession in '08 and '09," Stein told Kelly about Trump's economic team. "They have handled it absolutely perfectly, magnificently, beyond words. I've never seen any economist in the world do any better than they've done it."
Stein's comments came after the S&P 500 closed at a record high Tuesday while rebounding from huge losses triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
"Everything that they could do right they did right, and they didn't do anything wrong," Stein said. "The brilliance of the Trump economic team cannot be overestimated.There is absolutely nor reason to switch economic teams, period."
Meanwhile, Stein said "we all know" there will be another stimulus bill, as the Democrats won't "torpedo" one. However, the real question is about what all the debt will do to the United States, he added.
"Great, large countries have gone into bankruptcy before," said Stein. "It is very hard for me to foresee how we're going to be able to pay off our debt. or service in any kind of responsible way in the future. We have run up a debt which is breathtaking, necessary, but breathtaking," but it will take "very great, creative minds" to determine how to handle "this incredible indebtedness."
But still, the economy will rebound, said Stein, as there is a "tremendous amount of money out there waiting to be spent. Retail sales are now at above pre-crisis levels, so the economy is about to bounce back. I think when President Trump says it's going to be a V-shaped recovery, I think he's completely right."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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