Hopes of ‘Trump Bump’ for U.S. Economy Shrink as Growth Forecasts Fade
With higher borrowing costs practically inevitable in the future, Mr. Anderson said, “the real tragedy is
that the price tag for any future infrastructure spending will be a lot higher.”
Ms. Pomboy pointed out that changing consumer habits in the wake of the financial crisis
and the recession — notably an increased wariness about spending and taking on debt — also explain what is looking more and more like a long-term downshift.
While hardly terrible, it is not the burst of growth — a “Trump bump” —
that many expected to result from an upturn in consumer and business sentiment after President Trump’s election.
“I don’t see any reason we will veer from a 2 percent growth rate,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco.
Experts say that without a meaningful change in government policies — greater infrastructure investment, an overhaul of the corporate
tax code, a new commitment to improve the skills of American workers — there is no reason to expect the domestic outlook to change.