American companies are playing along with President-elect Donald Trump's claims he is forcing businesses to create jobs in the U.S. in order to benefit themselves, The New York Times editorial board claims.
In a Monday editorial, the board wrote, "President-elect Trump would like everybody to believe that his election is energizing the economy by forcing businesses to create thousands of jobs in the United States. And companies like Sprint seem perfectly happy to go along with this fiction because they know they can profit handsomely by cozying up to Mr. Trump."
On Wednesday, Trump said Sprint's chief executive told him the company would add 8,000 jobs in the U.S. The board reported estimate was part of a previous commitment Sprint's parent company Softbank made back in October of 2016.
The board said Softbank wants the Department of Justice's antitrust division and the Federal Communications Commission to approve a merger of Sprint with rival telecommunication firm T-Mobile. If Trump appoints supporters to the antitrust division and the FCC that would allow the merger, "This is crony capitalism, with potentially devastating consequences."
The reduced competition that resulted would lead to higher wireless service costs and losses of jobs, the board wrote.
The Times board slammed Trump, saying, "This should greatly worry Americans, especially people who are counting on Mr. Trump to revive the economy and help the middle class."
Companies stand to benefit from Trump's attention, according to Greg Sargent in The Washington Post.
In an opinion piece last Friday, Sargent wrote, "It may be in the interest of the companies in question to play along with the story that Trump is telling. When Trump falsely takes credit for a company's decision to keep or move jobs here, why would that company want to set the record straight . . . when allowing Trump's self-serving tale to stand could conceivably lead the new administration to view it favorably?"
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