By Kevin Cirilli and Bob Cusack at The Hill
GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump warned The Hill in an exclusive interview of a looming economic recession, arguing that the stock market has already entered into another bubble.
He also slammed the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law as a “disaster” that has stifled economic growth.
“It’s terrible,” he said in an interview with The Hill, saying that he would “absolutely” repeal it.
“Under Dodd-Frank, the regulators are running the banks,” Trump said. “The bankers are petrified of the regulators. And the problem is that the banks aren’t loaning money to people who will create jobs.”
Democrats have vehemently defended Dodd-Frank, claiming it strengthened regulators’ ability to go after Wall Street and financial institutions in hopes of preventing an economic collapse. Republicans say it went too far and punished small businesses.
“We have Dodd-Frank and we’re in a bubble right now anyway,” Trump said, alluding to social media companies that he says have initial public offerings worth “billions” but “haven’t even made 10 cents.”
Trump also accused Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen of keeping interest rates low in order to shield Obama from having to leave office during a recession.
“She’s keeping the economy going, barely,” Trump said. “The reason they’re keeping the interest rate down is Obama doesn’t want to have a recession-slash-depression during his administration.”
Federal Reserve policymakers are expected in the coming months to raise the interest rate, which has remained at zero percent since the 2008 crisis in an effort to foster economic growth.
“You know who gets hurt the most? People who practice the American dream and did what should have been the right way — the people that went through 40 years of their life and saved a hundred dollars every week [in the bank],” Trump said.
He paused, shaking his head before adding: “They worked all their lives to save and now what happens is they’re being forced into an inflated stock market and at some point they’ll get wiped out.”
