Glenn Kessler: “All presidential administrations are hyping the number of economic transactions. Bill Clinton, for example, argued that North American free trade agreements would create jobs for one million people. Well, that was a mistakethe placeholder numbers that were mistakenly left in his prepared remarks, but they are often the symbol of the false mathematics behind the person who rules the headline. ”
“During President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East, the White House issued a news release entitled “President Donald J. Trump Secures a Historic $1.2 trillion Economic Commitment in Qatar.” The text said he “signed a contract with Qatar to generate at least $1.2 trillion worth of economic exchange.”
“Economic commitments? Economic exchanges? They are meaningless buzzwords. Regardless. The $1.2 trillion figure has become headlines all over the world.”
“The goal is to have a heading number. No one will ever check for ten years to see if this actually happened.”
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