>Lets factcheck Trumps great accomplishments.
>
>
>AP FACT CHECK: Trump?s economic mirage;
>Sanders on Medicare
>
>By HOPE YEN and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
>
>
>Yesterday
>
>?
https://apnews.com/2fab5cc446fa49ec9eb44fd1d6220dfc
>
>Link copied!
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Donald Trump
>is pulling numbers out of
>thin air when it comes
>to the economy, jobs and
>the deficit.
>
>He refers to a current record-breaking
>gross domestic product for the
>U.S. where none exists and
>predicts a blockbuster 5 percent
>annual growth rate in the
>current quarter that hardly any
>economist sees. Hailing his trade
>policies in spite of fears
>of damage from the escalating
>trade disputes he's provoked, Trump
>also falsely declares that his
>tariffs on foreign goods will
>help erase $21 trillion in
>national debt. The numbers don't
>even come close.
>
>The statements capped a week of
>grandiose and erroneous claims by
>Trump and his critics, including
>questionable rhetoric from Sen. Bernie
>Sanders that his ?Medicare for
>all? plan would reduce U.S.
>health spending by $2 trillion.
>
>
>A sampling of the statements, and
>the reality behind them:
>
>ECONOMY AND JOBS
>
>TRUMP: ?Economic growth, last quarter, hit
>the 4.1. We anticipate this
>next quarter to be ?
>this is just an estimate,
>but already they're saying it
>could be in the fives.?
>? remarks Tuesday before a
>group of business executives.
>
>TRUMP: ?As you know, we're doing
>record and close-to-record GDP.? ?
>remarks Tuesday.
>
>THE FACTS: No. These are the
>latest in a string of
>exaggerated claims that Trump has
>made about the U.S. economy.
>
>
>While economists are generally optimistic about
>growth, very few anticipate the
>economy will expand at a
>5 percent annual rate in
>the July-September quarter the president
>referred to. Macroeconomic Advisers, a
>consulting firm in St. Louis,
>forecasts 3.2 percent growth in
>the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase
>economists have penciled in 3.5
>percent. The Federal Reserve Bank
>of Atlanta pegs it at
>4.3 percent.
>
>Whatever the final number turns out
>to be, none of these
>figures represents record or close-to-record
>growth for gross domestic product,
>the broadest measure of the
>nation?s output. The 4.1 percent
>growth in the second quarter
>was simply the most since
>2014.
>
>___
>
>TRUMP: ?We?ve created 3.9 million more
>jobs since Election Day ?
>so almost 4 million jobs
>? which is unthinkable.? ?
>remarks Thursday at prison reform
>event in Bedminster, N.J.
>
>THE FACTS: It's not that unthinkable,
>since more jobs were created
>in the same period before
>the November 2016 election than
>afterward.
>
>It's true that in the 20
>months since Trump?s election, the
>economy has generated 3.9 million
>jobs. In the 20 months
>before his election, however, employers
>added 4.3 million jobs.
>
>___
>
>TRUMP: ?Great financial numbers being announced
>on an almost daily basis.
>Economy has never been better,
>jobs at best point in
>history.? ? tweet Monday.
>
>THE FACTS: He?s exaggerating. The economy
>is healthy now, but it
>has been in better shape
>at many times in the
>past.
>
>Growth reached 4.1 percent at an
>annual rate in the second
>quarter, which Trump highlighted late
>last month with remarks at
>the White House. But it's
>only the best in the
>past four years. So far,
>the economy is expanding at
>a modest rate compared with
>previous economic expansions. In the
>late 1990s, growth topped 4
>percent for four straight years,
>from 1997 through 2000. And
>in the 1980s expansion, growth
>even reached 7.2 percent in
>1984.
>
>It's not clear what Trump specifically
>means when he declares that
>jobs are at the ?best
>point in history,? but based
>on several indicators, he's off
>the mark.
>
>The unemployment rate of 3.9 percent
>is not at the best
>point ever ? it is
>actually near the lowest in
>18 years. The all-time low
>came in 1953, when unemployment
>fell to 2.5 percent during
>the Korean War. And while
>economists have been surprised to
>see employers add 215,000 jobs
>a month this year, a
>healthy increase, employers in fact
>added jobs at a faster
>pace in 2014 and 2015.
>A greater percentage of Americans
>held jobs in 2000 than
>now.
>
>Trump didn't mention probably the most
>important measure of economic health
>for Americans ? wages. While
>paychecks are slowly grinding higher,
>inflation is now canceling out
>the gains. Lifted by higher
>gasoline prices, consumer prices increased
>2.9 percent in June from
>a year earlier, the most
>in six years.
>
>___
>
>TARIFFS AND THE DEFICIT
>
>TRUMP: ?Because of Tariffs we will
>be able to start paying
>down large amounts of the
>$21 Trillion in debt that
>has been accumulated, much by
>the Obama Administration, while at
>the same time reducing taxes
>for our people.? ? tweet
>Sunday.
>
>THE FACTS: This isn't going to
>happen.
>
>The Treasury Department estimates that all
>tariffs currently in place will
>raise about $40 billion in
>revenue in the 2018 budget
>year, which ends Sept. 30.
>Even with the recent tariff
>increases Trump has implemented or
>threatened to put in place,
>it clearly wouldn't be enough
>to reduce the $21 trillion
>national debt. It's just 5
>percent of what the president
>would need to eliminate the
>annual budget deficit of $804
>billion that the Congressional Budget
>Office predicts for this year.
>The national debt represents the
>accumulation of all the annual
>deficits.
>
>The president seems to believe that
>foreigners pay tariffs, but they
>are import taxes paid for
>by American businesses and consumers.
>They may make it harder
>for other countries to sell
>things in the United States,
>but they are just another
>form of tax and do
>not result in lower taxes
>for the American people overall.
>
>
>___
>
>FOOD STAMPS
>
>TRUMP: ?Almost 3.9 million Americans have
>been lifted off food stamps
>? that's since the election.
>... That's some number. That's
>a big number.? ? Ohio
>rally on Aug. 4.
>
>TRUMP: ?More than 3.5 million Americans
>have been lifted off food
>stamps ? something that you
>haven't seen in decades.? ?
>remarks at White House on
>July 27.
>
>WHITE HOUSE: ?More than 2.8 million
>have stopped participating in the
>Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP)
>- commonly known as food
>stamps - since Trump?s first
>full month in office.? ?
>information sheet released Tuesday, citing
>Fox Business report.
>
>THE FACTS: Trump and the White
>House omit important context and
>overstate his role in reducing
>the number of people on
>food stamps. Nor is it
>accurate that recent declines are
>the biggest in decades. It's
>true, as the White House
>conveys, that more than 2.8
>million people stopped participating in
>the program during the 15-month
>period from February 2017, Trump?s
>first full month in office,
>to May 2018, the latest
>Agriculture Department data available. But
>this decline is consistent with
>a longer-term downward trend in
>food stamp usage due to
>an improving economy. Currently there
>are 39.3 million people in
>the program; food stamp usage
>peaked in 2013 at around
>47.6 million, following the recession.
>
>
>For instance, in the 15-month period
>before Trump?s first full month
>in office, food stamps declined
>by 3.3 million ? larger
>than the 2.8 million that
>dropped off under Trump?s watch.
>
>
>___
>
>MEDICARE
>
>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: ?Medicare for All
>will lead to a $2
>TRILLION REDUCTION in national health
>expenditures over 10 years.? ?
>tweet July 30.
>
>THE FACTS: Sanders? tweet and YouTube
>video are being widely echoed
>by supporters of a government-run
>national health system. But the
>Vermont independent mischaracterizes a study
>from a libertarian policy institute
>that found his legislation would
>lead to a massive boost
>in federal spending and taxation.
>
>
>The study from the Mercatus Center
>at George Mason University in
>Virginia also concluded that ?Medicare
>for all? is unlikely to
>produce a dividend for U.S.
>society in the form of
>lower total health care spending.
>To get that result would
>require paying hospitals and doctors
>much less than they get
>now and risk putting some
>out of business.
>
>The study found that if hospitals
>and doctors were willing to
>accept Medicare-based payments of 40
>percent less for patients who
>currently have private insurance, then
>projected U.S. health care spending
>would decline by about 3
>percent from 2022-2031, or $2.05
>trillion. It's a big asterisk,
>and one that Sanders fails
>to disclose.
>
>That's the number Sanders is celebrating.
>
>
>But the study also said if
>medical providers continue to be
>paid about the same as
>now, U.S. health care spending
>would increase by $3.25 trillion
>over 10 years under ?Medicare
>for all.? It works out
>to about 5 percent more.
>
>
>That's far different from Sanders? assurance
>that his plan ?will lead?
>to huge spending reductions.
>
>___
>
>WILDFIRES AND WATER
>
>TRUMP: ?California wildfires are being magnified
>& made so much worse
>by the bad environmental laws
>which aren't allowing massive amounts
>of readily available water to
>be properly utilized. It is
>being diverted into the Pacific
>Ocean.? ? tweet Monday.
>
>THE FACTS: That's not what state
>experts say.
>
>?We have plenty of water? for
>battling the massive blazes burning
>in hills north of San
>Francisco, said Scott McLean, a
>spokesman for the California Department
>of Forestry and Fire Protection.
>The current spate of wildfires
>happens to be within range
>of large Northern California lakes
>and the state?s biggest river,
>McLean said.
>
>Nor is having enough water a
>problem in battling California wildfires
>in general. Firefighting aircraft can
>dip in and out of
>cattle ponds or other small
>bodies of water to scoop
>up water for dropping and
>spraying on flames. When fires
>burn in an area that
>happens to be without ponds,
>lakes or rivers, state officials
>typically call in more planes
>to ferry in water, McLean
>said.
>
>California?s battles over divvying up water
>in the arid state are
>unending, but a battle between
>firefighters and the Pacific Ocean
>hasn't been one of them,
>according to Jay Lund, a
>civil and environmental engineering professor
>at the University of California,
>Davis, and a longtime analyst
>of the state?s water wars.
>
>
>Trump?s claim ?is so physically impossible,
>you don't even really want
>to respond,? Lund said.
>
>For one thing, the wildfires are
>in the hills, far from
>the Pacific Ocean and from
>the man-made storage and distribution
>system that carries water from
>California?s wetter north to the
>drier, more populated south.
>
>___
>
>TRUMP: ?Governor Jerry Brown must allow
>the Free Flow of the
>vast amounts of water coming
>from the North and foolishly
>being diverted into the Pacific
>Ocean. Can be used for
>fires, farming and everything else.
>Think of California with plenty
>of Water - Nice! Fast
>Federal govt. approvals.? ? tweet
>Monday.
>
>THE FACTS: Trump is raising an
>old dispute in California, the
>country?s top farm state: the
>competition for water between agricultural
>and environmental groups, fishermen and
>others who want more water
>for wildlife and habitat. But
>the dispute has little to
>do with firefighting.
>
>Republican lawmakers in California?s agriculture-rich Central
>Valley complain the state and
>federal governments allow too much
>of the state?s rainfall and
>snow melt to flow naturally
>through rivers and into the
>Pacific Ocean, instead of being
>diverted for irrigation.
>
>___
>
>VETERANS
>
>TRUMP: ?The Democrats are obstructionists. The
>only thing they do well,
>they're lousy politicians, they have
>horrible, stupid policies. You know,
>let's get rid of law
>enforcement, let's get rid of
>our military, let's not take
>care of our vets ?
>all of these things. ...
>They?ll do anything they can
>really to obstruct or resist.?
>? remarks Aug. 4 at
>Ohio rally.
>
>THE FACTS: On the contrary, in
>regards to veterans? issues, every
>major bill signed into law
>by Trump has passed with
>strong support from both Republicans
>and Democrats. In one case,
>House Democrats did block an
>emergency funding bill for the
>Veterans Choice private-sector program after
>veterans groups complained that it
>focused on too much private
>care instead of core VA
>programs. The Democrats? dissent resulted
>in additional funding for both
>private care and VA programs
>in the revised bill.
>
>More recently, Robert Wilkie was confirmed
>by the Senate to serve
>as VA secretary on an
>86-9 vote. It was a
>moment of strong bipartisan display
>compared to the partisan discord
>over other Trump nominees.
>
>___
>
>Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Chloe
>Kim and Ellen Knickmeyer contributed
>to this report.
>
>___
>
>Find AP Fact Checks at?
http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd
What ever Antifa ?, Fact check the people API writers are Hillary loosers
