I’ve only scuba-dived a little, but I know enough to know that stirred up silt can really make the experience frustrating. Similarly, business leaders prefer a clear vision of future conditions when trying to make plans for their firms. So this report caught my attention:
Budget experts said they were not aware of any previous White House opting against providing forecasts in this “mid-session review” document in any other year since at least the 1970s.
Two White House officials confirmed the decision had been made not to include the economic projections as part of the mid-session release. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said that the novel coronavirus is causing extreme volatility in the U.S. economy, making it difficult to model economic trends. [WaPo]
I’m not a business leader, so I can only wonder if the government’s assessment of the future, which will now be withheld, is considered vital information when formulating plans for the future of their respective companies. If this is true, then the Trump Administration may have just shot itself in its reelection foot.
Why?
Companies that cannot accurately assess the future – and know they can’t – cannot afford to have optimistic expectations of the economy. Because of this, they’ll pull in their horns and act conservatively, and that typically results in less economic activity, less optimistic hiring practices, less ordering from suppliers…
And a slower economy.
Like I said, I don’t know much about the sources a typical large company uses to plan for the future, but if they do, the Administration, which I think is dependent on a healthy economy to even have a chance at reelection, may have just hurt itself all the more.
