Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris claimed that a Goldman Sachs analysis showed her economic plan was better than President Trump's, but the bank's CEO has corrected that hyperbolic claim.
Harris repeated that argument during a debate with former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, as she sought to gain public confidence in the economy.
“I guess this has turned out to be bigger than we originally planned.”
“I've proposed what I call the Opportunity Economy, and some of the best economists in our country, if not the world, have looked at comparative plans for the future of America,” the vice president said. “What Goldman Sachs is saying is that Donald Trump's plan will make the economy worse, and my plan will make the economy stronger.”
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said CNBC noted that the claims were grossly exaggerated and based on independent analysis.
“That report that was mentioned in the debate last night was by an independent analyst and, Scott, I think that's interesting because I think this subject has gotten way more attention than it should,” Solomon said.
“The report looked at some of the policy agendas put forward by both sides and tried to model the impact that would have on GDP growth,” Solomon explained. “The reason this report got so much attention is because it showed that the difference between the policies put forward by both sides was on the order of half a percentage point.”
So while Harris may have been technically correct, the differences between the two economic plans in his analysis were inconsequential.
Solomon added that it was unclear whether either plan would go ahead, given the political hurdles to approving such a policy.
“I think our clients are trying to look at the situation from a policy perspective and make a judgment call. I think this has escalated into something bigger than originally intended,” he added.
This cautious view of the candidates' economic plans was echoed by Gary Cohn, a vice chairman of IBM who served as national economic adviser in the Trump administration.
Polls have shown that Americans have much more trust in President Trump and the Republican Party when it comes to economic policy after high inflation has stifled wage growth and driven up costs across the board.
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