washington journal continues. host: we welcome stephen moore, with the heritage foundation, a former economic adviser to the president and with the new book, trumpenomics. i want to see the unemployment rate of january 2012 during the first term of barack obama and where it was july of this year at 3.9%. my question is, is this the trump economy or the obama/trump economy? guest: that is good question. when i worked for then candidate

the economyed strongly against hillary. the last year of obama's presidency, the economy grew at 1.5%, which is a low rate of economic growth. it was a recovery under obama. no question about it. got out of growth we it, it was the weakest since the great depression. when i was on the campaign trail, i used to got go with dod trump to states like ohio and pennsylvania, kentucky, wisconsin and michigan. , how is the voters obama recovery going for you? americansblue-collar and they would say what recovery are you talking about? if you lived on wall street, or you lived in silicon valley or washington, d.c., the economy did phenomenally well.

but there were areas of the country left behind. american people i can get the growth rate of from 1.5% to maybe 5%. no one believed him. larry summers and seemingly the entire economic faculty at harvard and yield, it is impossible to get a 3% growth. we did not get anywhere near there under obama. the latest numbers just came out this past week. growth, which4.5% is phenomenal. i think trump deserves a lot of credit. your friend, larry kudlow we sat down with him and talked about trade, the deficit and the economy. [video clip] >> my view about the trump program, tax cuts, rollback.

president trump has changed the game to restore economic growth. and prosperity. healthy economy. and wages. and get ordinary working folk back to work. give them opportunity. that is with the trade issue is about. -- that under the right policies, under economic incentives, we can go the american economy at least at a historic rate, which since world war ii, which more or less from 1950 to 2000, we grew. i see no reason why we cannot replicate that with proper policies. both political parties, republican and democrat, have gone off course in the last 20 years. host: you worked with him on cnbc.

it does come with tax cuts at a crisis. -- price. reaching $22t, trillion. guest: larry kudlow was the best man at my wedding. we are very good friends. we work together side-by-side during the campaign and devised the tax plan. i agree with every word larry just said. there is no law of nature this is the american economy cannot grow faster than 2%. and hillary obama clinton economists said. we believe if you are first obama policies, we would tell trump look at everything. can get growth. with theoing on now economy, is we are firing on all sin -- cylinders. jobsve 6.5 million more today than people to fill them.

i have been traveling this summer all over the country. everywhere from portland maine to portland oregon. everywhere with few exceptions. in the cities, cranes building new factories. apartment buildings. new warehouses. it is the biggest construction boom in the history of the united states going on right now. why is it happening? because of trump policies. you asked me about debt. went up when attila -- a lot. in the obama presidency, we doubled the debt. one thing we told donald trump is we're not going to get this debt under control if you do not get the economy moving. if we continue to grow at 1.9% under obama, it does not matter if you take a chainsaw to the budget. you are not going to get the growth you need. one year after the tax cut is passed, we have more revenue this year than last year.

even with the tax cut, we are getting more revenue in. believed the first step to getting our deficit down his grow economy and we are doing that. our guest is stephen moore from the heritage foundation, joe from new orleans. democrat line. caller: good morning. i believe the economy did not grow faster. under president obama. the business community deliberately did not hire, did not expand their businesses because they did not want president obama to get credit -- full credit for the growing economy. if you look at one of the things we talk about in our book. look at what happened the day after the election.

look at what happened at consumer confidence. it shot up. the good what happened to business confidence. amongwas a view businessmen and women that was like shaking up a champagne bottle and taking a cork off. there is not any one thing that trump has done that has revived our economy. it is the whole panoply of lower taxes, getting government off the back of business. hillary ran around the country, saying she was going to put, running out of business. trump that i would help rebuild the american coal industry. i think there has been a radical shift in the direction of the economy since november 2016. the american people understand this. i was looking at polling i was t some polling the other day that under barack obama, throughout most of his eight years in office and is certainly true for the day before the election in november 2016, only three out of 10 americans, 30% rated the

economy as good, the number today? seven out of 10. that is a dramatic turnaround for you o dramatic turnaround. motivations were sincere, but you do not to make the economy growth faster by raising taxes on businesses, and it had a negative effect on the economy. host: i want to ask you about trade because we expect to hear the foreign minister changing her plans, rushing to washington to meet with administration officials and the deadline self-imposed by the president, 90 days and so he could get to congress before december 1. explain why that is important. guest: for my first meeting with donald trump which is now a little over two and a half years ago, i challenged him on

trade. i am a free trade guy and i do not believe in tariffs. larry kudlow and i duked it out with him a little bit and donald trump is an engaging guy and he likes to listen to arguments. i look at the situation today with trade and you have got to hand it to trump, whatever he is doing, you starting to get deals that are in america's interest. what happened about a month ago with the eu where they agreed to reduce their tariffs, trump always said that when he was running for president and since he has been president, i just want a level playing field. i want a fair deal for american workers, and he is getting them. we have a good deal with europe. mexico, i think it will promote trade on both sides

which is a good thing, and as tight and the screws with canada does canada right now is the odd man out. i believe canada will make some concessions, we will get a deal done with canada, and then we focus all our attention on china. china is the big problem in the world economy. cheating,isbehaving, or stealing, and i always told let's get deals done with the other countries so we can focus on getting tough with china. host: last night, here is the president. [video clip] pres. trump: we made a great deal with mexico and canada did not want to do what we had done. after the deal was made with mexico, canada came along and they are negotiating right now at the white house. it is going to happen, we will see what happens. if it does not happen, we will put tariffs on the cars coming

in from canada and that will be even better. i think it is going to happen and we have really developed a very good relationship. we love canada, but they have to treat as fairly. they have not treated us fairly. right? i will give you an example with canada. dairy products, they put tariffs on our dairy products going into canada come almost 300%. we cannot have that. ] rowd booing so we will open it up or we will be frankly, maybe even better. either way, it is going to work beautifully. that, i promise. ift: can it work hypothetically if it is just a u.s.-mexico deal or a u.s.-canada deal -- does it have to be the three countries? guest: i think canada is going to sign on. one of the things you have to understand about donald trump,

he understands the art of the deal. he is a phenomenal negotiator. i watched and negotiate on the tax bill and getting a lot of what he wants. i think he is going to prevail with canada. canada cannot to be left out. canada the pens on being able to export to united states -- canada depends on being able to export to the united states. we do have leverage over the country's whether it is china, japan, korea, canada, mexico -- all of them have to have access to the american market and he is using that leverage to get them to open up their markets to our products and that is pro-american worker and that is what putting america first is all about. host: patricia in iowa, independent line with stephen moore, with the heritage foundation. caller: good morning.

first, would like to express my condolences to the mccain family. for mr. moore, i have a real axoblem with the t plans with the middle-class. 1% got 83, but i figured like 80% of that $1.5 ofllion -- that means 4/5 that money went to 3200 people to 316,800ent people. if you can call that a tax break for the middle-class, i find th at astounding. that's what spurs the stock market and other things and to

get that passed, they added glucose for corporations to get votes. -- they added loopholes for the corporations to get votes. they did not take any of the loopholes away for regular they made a tax cuts permanent for the 3200 and the other ones sense that. guest: i am phenomenally proud of the trump tax cut. i saw the president a couple of weeks ago and i do couple of minutes to talk to him and i said, this is working out better than we had thought. the whole idea was to get the economy moving again, help american businesses. every american business competes on a global stage, we want to make american businesses as competitive as possible so they can create more jobs.

that is one of the reason why we have 6.5 million more jobs than people to fill them. that helps the medical class. we want american businesses to succeed. this creates a tighter labor market which leads to higher wages. i was walking down the street and a hispanic woman saw me and grabbed me and she said, are you the one that i see talking about a trump tax-cut. and i said, i am. she said, i just want to shake your hand. i did not devote for donald trump and i just got a 50 number not vote for donald trump, i just got a $1500 tax cut.m the the average worker in the united states with the median income gets about $2000 a year. nancy pelosi may think that to

that $2000's crumbs, but we think that is real money. host: republican line. people i know a lot of who voted for trumpet that were democrats. you'd be as surprised at the number of my neighbors who said that because they were tired of the democratic party. out,estion, when people go these democrats, and say they are going to give three health care to everybody, nothing in life is free. toy should not be allowed tell people it is free because nothing is free. it is going to cost somebody something. that is the way to buy votes. it is not free, it costs everybody something. i wonder how the republicans are going to tell people that it costs money. healths money for

care, it is not free. i hear democrats say that, i get very upset. whatever taxes i pay, it is going to be ridiculous if they try to give health care to everybody for free. nothing is free. you can only cut a price so many ways. host: thank you. an a: i think mary gets economics. one of the things that milton freeman is famous for, issa say, say, is -- he used to thing as a no such free lunch. bill press, he said we should have medicare for all and it is going to be free for everybody,

and at least under obamacare, which i think is a big failure, where cost of health care went up for the average person -- at least if obama said that if you like your health care, you can keep it. that was the democratic line 10 years ago, if you like your health care plan, you get to keep it. but the health care for all of, the bernie sanders plan, i want to warn your viewers. 110 million americans lose our health plan under that. employer-based plan, heritage foundation has a plan, the vast majority of people like the health care plan they have -- you lose your plan. if everyone is stuck under a health-careunded plan, you're not going to get the choices that you have now. that is one of the most dangerous ideas i have heard. 110 million americans lose their health plans under medicare for

all. host: in indianapolis, democrats line. caller: health-care i've seenre not going mr. moor, you all over advocating for what i think is a failed economic seems likeuse it every time we try this starting with reagan in 1981, what has happened in the end, we end up with an economic disaster fee that the democrats have to come in and clean up. it seems like the policies work way more than economic policies. you and mr. kudlow have basically soldiers off to the your soul to the devil for donald trump. guest: i was also privilege to work -- privileged to worker -- to work for ronald reagan.

-- aember it's very very vividly. reagan came along with his policies of cutting taxes, reducing regulation and as reagan used to say, reaganomics is not the solution, government .s the problem i do not buy the argument that it did not work, it created an incredible recovery. reagan was slightly reelected with 49 states so the american people loved what reagan did for the american economy. lot of what donald trump has done is out of the pages of reagan's policies. different than reaganomics. trump is more of a populist but they both wanted the american economy to expand and boy, has

it. host: the president has been critical of the chair jerome powell because he says he doesn't like the interest rates. is that appropriate? guest: there is a big debate about that. the president has the right to speak out about said policy. the president is the ceo of our national economy and why shouldn't he be able to express an opinion? everyone has an opinion about what the fed should do. if you watch fox business news are you watch cnbc, that is all they talk about. i think the president should weigh in. i happen to think the fed does not need to be raising interest rates now. we have 4.5% to growth and low inflation. that is perfect, that is what you want.

ingorry that the fed is tak the punch bowl away from the party just on the party is getting going. goingis concerned that is to reduce wages and that is not what he wants. donald trump is a pro blue-collar working class american worker president. thosees a lot about people in michigan, ohio, pennsylvania, the people who did not feel a recovery so that is why he has been protesting. host: we so what happened in 1989 when the stock market plummeted. we saw what happened in 2008. guest: the famous crash of the market in 1987. host: how does this market feel to you? guest: i am bullish. american companies are so well run today. i amf the reasons optimistic about the future, i went around the country seeing building everywhere.

american company's are expanding and efficient. could go on to the next three or four or five years. think this is a healthy economic climate and there is no reason stocks cannot continue to climb. about threeis point weeks ago, he said that we are the envy of the world economically, and today, we really are. our economy is growing at eight -- at a 4. even china is slowing down. china has been hurt by these tariffs that trump is putting on them. china needs to be able to trade with the united states, so i'm going to say that we have got a couple, two or three more years mobile market expansion. the: stephen moore with heritage foundation, former economic adviser to president trump he is the author of an

upcoming book out next month. we will have you back when that book comes out in october. guest: thank you. host: john in stuart, florida, republican line. agger.: i am a teab i do not have a lot of education, but i have good common sense. you do not give a tax break when you have a deficit of $20 trillion. now one of the many promises in eight years, there is not going to be anymore deficit. isn't the deficit going up with the tax break? guest: great question. tax revenues are higher this year than they are last year. we passed a big, big tax cut. the reason revenues are up is because the economy is doing well. businesses are doing well. we have a record number of

americans working. i've always believed the most important thing is to get the economy going, get people in jobs that some people are working, they pay taxes. when people are on welfare, they do not they taxes, they collect government benefits. keeping americans in their jobs, giving them pay raises, income goes up, they pay more taxes -- i think we are going to see declining deficits. i do not want to's trillion dollar deficits that we had under obama which were dreadful. we had eight years, we increased the national debt by $10 trillion under obama. we need to get growth up and revenues up and then we have to cut government spending. i have been kabul mentor he did during this interview but i will say this -- i've been kabul ary tompliment

trump during this interview, but i will say this, we have got to get control of our expenditures. it is not a revenue problem. revenue, what we do not have any spending control. shame on both parties. president pointing to the debt 20 said i'm not going to get federal workers a pay raise. how much -- pointing to the debt saying i am not going to give federal workers a pay raise. how much is that going to affect? guest: i think good federal workers who are doing a good job, they deserve a pay raise. there are a lot of workers who just punch the time clock in working for government and we have got to have a way where we can reward the good workers and get rid of the bad workers. i feel the same way about teachers. there is a big movement to pay teachers more. my attitude is, yes.

great teachers deserve a great paycheck but we also have to get rid of bad teachers. which get rid of the teacher tenure system and we should get rid of teachers that do not belong in front of the classroom. host: sam in california, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. any not profess to have knowledge of macroeconomics or financial trade nor am i interested in politics, but i am interested in policy, specifically how it affects me. it is a selfish are you, but it helps clarify how policies are impacting individuals rather than macro number -- than macro. the one policy that president trump enacted over the past year and a half, the tax changes, my taxes are increasing because of that. , so in a high tax state

limiting state and local taxes to $10,000, in my taxes increase. lot.rst -- it hurts me a the second thing around trade, i ay socks, so i do not make socks, but i do buy socks and socks, and if the price goes up, that hurts me. tariffs hurt me. if i look at everything else, it does not impact me and i do not care. but these two do. guest: the gentleman is exactly right. tariff is a- tax. if we put a tax of a tariff on socks, let's say we put 10% tariff on that.

that means it is going to cost american consumers 10% more. this gentleman is right. it is a tax on consuming but the goal is to get these other countries to lower their tariffs on us. united states has the lowest tariffs of any of the other countries that we are trading quite. we are supposed to have trade deals with these countries but they are cheating. united states has the lowest -- average are 3%, 4%, 5% the other countries are imposing tariffs on us that are three times higher than that and trump is saying that is not fair. i agree. and the state and local tax exemption, i was one of the people that really insisted we get rid of the state and local tax reduction. this gentleman, i think he said he lives in california? california has the highest taxes . why should somebody who lives in new hampshire, why should the muddy who lives in texas have to

pay higher federal taxes to subsidize the public services in california? it is not fair to the people who live in low tax states to pay more federal taxes to pay for services in california. if tell her you want liberal policies and you want to free health care and all these other once to- if california have liberal policies, i believe in federalism, but do not ask people in other states to pay for your local services. liberals are very hypocritical and say, this is so unfair. 70% of the benefits from the state and local tax reduction went to the people in the top 2% of income. arepeople who benefit millionaires and billionaires and we just raised their taxes and liberals are complaining. utah,we go to sandra in republican. caller: good morning. guest: hi. caller: i want to clarify

something. you create more revenue by creating more taxpayers. more people going to work brings in more revenue. created,s getting started gives more money to the taxes and that is awesome. i love the tax-cuts. also come i want to clarify that when they say the government is giving people money, no. you are taking glass of my money ney and i amof my mo thankful for that. full speed ahead with the situationthe tariffs and worse comes to worse, let's do a gun -- a gofundme for the wall and it would be paid for. host: thank you. guest: i agree. she said it more eloquently than i did which is more people working, people earning more

money, american businesses doing better, factories coming back to the united dates which is now happening, that leads to more revenues. if a is an old saying, factory moves out of the united states -- because here is the situation. before the tax cuts, we had a 40% tax on our businesses and most of the rest of the world was a 20%. we run at a 20% this advantage. -- 20%dstart headstart program, why would we do that? wanting the jobs here in the united states. i showed trump the chart, he -- one should bring more of my favorite stories. a car manufacturing plant is moving from mexico to michigan. plant years, we had our moving and now they are coming back. host: the headline from your book coming out in october is

what? is american renaissance that could go on for five or six years. host: in >> national intelligence director on threats to the united states. then the former deputy assistant and strategist to president trump on working with the president. the aspen institute hosts a discussion on economic opportunities for americans. at nsao institute looks into lessons learned from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. nnouncer: washington journal. live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. wednesday morning, on the second day of brett kavanaugh's

, nan aron and ed whelan. watch washington journal, live at 7 a.m. eastern wednesday morning. live wednesday on the c-span network, the u.s. house returns to10 a.m. eastern on c-span talk about cyber attacks against the united states. c-span2, the senate considers eight district court nominations. ofc-span3, the second day confirmation hearings for brett kavanaugh at 9:30 a.m. announcer: the c-span bus is traveling across the country on the 50 capital store --

capitals tour. join us as we feature our 40th bus stop in des moines, iowa, live on monday with washington journal, with senate president charles schneider. >> next, the national intelligence director on threats to the united states. he addressed what he referred to as the big four, russia, china, iran, and north korea. this 25 minute speech was hosted by the intelligence and national security alliance into the armed forces in electronics association. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [applause] letitia: