Trump economist touts nation’s low poverty rate

Economist and adviser to President Trump Stephen Moore touted the country’s declining poverty rate amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

On Tuesday the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released a report saying the U.S. poverty rate fell to 10.5 percent last year,

“In 2019 the poverty rate in the United States was lower than it has been at any time since they started measuring it in 1958,” Moore told radio host John Catsimatidis on his show broadcast on WABC 770 AM on Sunday.

Moore touted what he calls “Trumponomics,” which involves the administration’s lowering taxes and cutting regulations. 

“Trump has been talking about this, but the media has been yawning about it because they don’t want to report good news,” Moore said. “What this tells us is that Trumponomics — lower taxes, lower regulations, better trade deals, promoting American energy — these policies didn’t just work for the rich.”

The U.S. unemployment rate has also gone down after skyrocketing to a post-Depression high of 14.7 percent earlier this year as the pandemic began and led to widespread closures across the country.

“Since around the middle of May… the economy has done better than anyone expected,” Moore said. “The Congressional Budget Office thought that we would have an unemployment rate at this time of about 14 or 15 percent. In fact, the unemployment rate is only 8.5 percent. We are moving ahead faster than scheduled.” 

“I don’t think there’s any question that Trump would be far better for markets and for jobs than Biden would.”

John Catsimatidis is an investor in The Hill.