KATE BOLDUAN (HOST): This isn't a fully fleshed-out plan. This is principles coming from the White House, what they would like to see in the plan. What we've heard so far, any surprises?
RANA FOROOHAR: Well, no, in the sense that this is what a lot of Republicans have done in the last several decades. They've cut taxes, but they haven't cut spending, Kate, and that is really, really crucial here. This is a very old line way of doing things. You saw during the Reagan administration, actually, and some of Trump's advisers are from that old-school camp. You saw taxes cut, but you didn't see spending cuts, which means the deficit blooms. And you look at how many Republicans are committed to a neutral plan, a revenue neutral plan, it makes me think that this is going to be very contentious, not just on the left, but on the right. There is another point too, which is that the Trump administration will say, “well hey, tax cuts are going to create growth, growth is going to create revenue, that's going to offset all of this deficit.” Well, there is no real evidence in the last 20 years that that has happened. If you look at the tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 under Bush that didn't create long-term growth. The Obama tax cuts didn't create growth. So, I think that this mythology that there's some kind of “tax cuts equal growth” formula is just incorrect.
