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16 Nobel Prize-winning economists are warning that Trump’s economic plans could reignite inflation
Sixteen of the world’s most notable economists — all Nobel Prize winners — are warning that former President Donald Trump could stoke inflation if he wins the presidency in November and moves forward with his economic plans.
“Many Americans are concerned about inflation, which has come down remarkably fast. There is rightly a worry that Donald Trump will reignite this inflation, with his fiscally irresponsible budgets,” according to a letter signed by the economists, who include Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2001; and Yale professor Robert Shiller, who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2013.
The warning comes as the U.S. continues to battle sticky inflation, with the Federal Reserve maintaining the highest interest rates in more than two decades with the goal of cooling the economy and driving inflation down to a 2% annual rate. Even though inflation has cooled from a recent peak of 9.1% in June 2022, inflation-weary Americans are glum about the economy, with 6 in 10 rating it as either bad, fairly bad or very bad, according to the latest CBS News poll.
Trump’s policies could prove to be inflationary, other economists also warned, such as his proposal to create a 10% across-the-board tariff on all imports to deporting immigrants. The tariff plan would add $1,700 in annual costs for the typical U.S. household, essentially acting as an inflationary tax, according to experts at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Deporting immigrants could shrink the labor force, creating more competition for U.S. workers and pushing up wages, also adding to inflationary pressure, economists warn.
While the letter from Stiglitz and the other 15 Nobel Prize winners didn’t detail the specifics of any part of Trump’s plans, it did single out praise for some of President Joe Biden’s economic policies, ranging from his Inflation Reduction Act to investment in U.S. manufacturing.
“In his first four years as President, Joe Biden signed into law major investments in the U.S. economy, including in infrastructure, domestic manufacturing and climate,” the letter said. “Together, these investments are likely to increase productivity and economic growth while lowering long-term inflationary pressures and facilitating the clean energy transition.”
They added, “While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we all agree that Joe Biden’s economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump’s.”
“Top economists, Nobel Prize winners, and business leaders all know America can’t afford Trump’s dangerous economic agenda,” Biden campaign spokesperson, James Singer, told CBS MoneyWatch.
“In Donald Trump’s America, the rich pay less, and working Americans pay more,” he added.
“The American people don’t need worthless out-of-touch Nobel Prize winners to tell them which president put more money in their pockets,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
If re-elected, Trump plans to implement a “pro-growth, pro-energy, pro-jobs agenda to bring down the cost of living and uplift all Americans,” she added.
“We the undersigned”: Read the letter
You can read the text of the letter below:
We the undersigned are deeply concerned about the risks of a second Trump administration for the U.S. economy.
Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty. For a country like the U.S., which is embedded in deep relationships with other countries, conforming to international norms and having normal and stable relationships with other countries is also an imperative. Donald Trump and the vagaries of his actions and policies threaten this stability and the U.S.’s standing in the world.
While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we all agree that Joe Biden’s economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump’s. In his first four years as President, Joe Biden signed into law major investments in the U.S. economy, including in infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, and climate. Together, these investments are likely to increase productivity and economic growth while lowering long-term inflationary pressures and facilitating the clean energy transition.
During Joe Biden’s presidency we have also seen a remarkably strong and equitable labor market recovery — enabled by his pandemic stimulus. An additional four years of Joe Biden’s presidency would allow him to continue supporting an inclusive U.S. economic recovery.
Many Americans are concerned about inflation, which has come down remarkably fast. There is rightly a worry that Donald Trump will reignite this inflation, with his fiscally irresponsible budgets. Nonpartisan researchers, including at Evercore, Allianz, Oxford Economics, and the Peterson Institute, predict that if Donald Trump successfully enacts his agenda, it will increase inflation.
The outcome of this election will have economic repercussions for years, and possibly decades, to come. We believe that a second Trump term would have a negative impact on the U.S.’s economic standing in the world and a destabilizing effect on the U.S.’s domestic economy.
Signed,
George A. Akerlof (2001)
Sir Angus Deaton (2015)
Claudia Goldin (2023)
Sir Oliver Hart (2016)
Eric S. Maskin (2007)
Daniel L. McFadden (2000)
Paul R. Milgrom (2020)
Roger B. Myerson (2007)
Edmund S. Phelps (2006)
Paul M. Romer (2018)
Alvin E. Roth (2012)
William F. Sharpe (1990)
Robert J. Shiller (2013)
Christopher A. Sims (2011)
Joseph E. Stiglitz (2001)
Robert B. Wilson (2020)
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Embattled Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre to resign
The CEO of a hospital operator that filed for bankruptcy protection in May will step down after failing to testify before a U.S. Senate panel.
Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre has overseen a network of some 30 hospitals around the country. The Texas-based company’s troubled recent history has drawn scrutiny from elected officials in New England, where some of its hospitals are located.
A spokesperson for de la Torre told the Associated Press Saturday that he “has amicably separated from Steward on mutually agreeable terms” and “will continue to be a tireless advocate for the improvement of reimbursement rates for the underprivileged patient population.”
A CBS News investigation that spanned nearly two years documented how private equity investors and de la Torre extracted hundreds of millions of dollars while healthcare workers and patients struggled to get the life-saving supplies they needed.
In August, the company closed two Massachusetts hospitals, leaving about 1,200 workers jobless, according to the state.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said earlier this month that Congress “will hold Dr. de la Torre accountable for his greed and for the damage he has caused to hospitals and patients throughout America.”
De la Torre’s resignation is effective Oct. 1. The Senate approved a resolution on Wednesday that was intended to hold him in criminal contempt for failing to testify before a committee.
The Senate panel has been looking into Steward’s bankruptcy. De la Torre did not appear before it despite being issued a subpoena. The resolution refers the matter to a federal prosecutor.
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Biden says Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s killing a “measure of justice” for his many victims
Washington, D.C., – President Biden said on Saturday the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the overall leader of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, in a Friday airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon was a “measure of justice,” for his many victims.
In a statement released by the White House, Mr. Biden said “Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror,” including thousands of Israelis and Lebanese civilians. Nasrallah’s killing, which the statement said took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas’s massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, happened after the Hezbollah leader “made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a “northern front” against Israel.”
Hezbollah has been firing rockets and drones across Lebanon’s southern border into Israel for almost a year amid the country’s war with Hamas.
Nasrallah was killed in a series of massive explosions targeting leaders of the militant group, which started with numerous pagers exploding across Lebanon on Sept. 18 killing at least 12 people — including members of the militant group Hezbollah and two children — and wounding several thousand, according to Lebanon’s public health minister.
Strikes escalated in recent days, with one senior U.S. administration official calling the situation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon “delicate and dangerous.” More than 500 people were killed in Lebanon on Monday, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, as missiles slammed into residential buildings. Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah weapons hidden in the building.
Tensions in the Middle East have engulfed Mr. Biden’s last – and his final – year of presidency. His administration has said the U.S. “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups,” and he has directed the Secretary of Defense “to further enhance” the defense posture of U.S. military forces in the Middle East.
Mr. Biden said in the statement ultimately his administration aims to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts through diplomatic means.
During his final speech to the United Nations General Assembly as president on Thursday Mr. Biden said, “full scale war is not in anyone’s interest.”