Wharton business school says there's no 'positive impact on economy' from Kamala's budget plans

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris claimed during a livestream event with Oprah Winfrey on September 19 that her big spending plans were endorsed by the Wharton School of Business because they would “strengthen the economy." Wharton signaled no such approval, Newsweek reported.

Harris claimed that her economic policy of big spending and price controls would be a boon for Americans and for businesses "and that is why Goldman Sachs ... is why Moody's, which is why Wharton School of Business, which is why 16 Nobel laureates, have collectively determined after analyzing our plans" that they would "strengthen the economy, his [Trump’s] would weaken it."

But Harris was either misinformed or lying. Wharton School of Business responded to an inquiry from Newsweek by saying it had not endorsed Harris’ economic policy. "We did not find a positive impact on the economy from her plan in any future year. The Trump plan does increase GDP for a few years but lowers by the end of the 10-year budget window," a spokesperson for the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM) said.

PWBM describes itself as “a nonpartisan, research-based initiative that provides accurate, accessible and transparent economic analysis of public policy's fiscal impact.” Harris may have been citing a passage in a PWBM report that concluded that Harris's tax and spending plans would further boost federal government deficits, though it said Trump’s economic policies might increase deficits more.

The group asserted that under Trump, GDP "eventually falls relative to current law, falling by 0.4 percent in 2034 and by 2.1 percent in 30 years." Under Harris, the report found, "GDP falls by 1.3 percent by 2034 and by 4 percent within 30 years (year 2054)."

PWBM's analysis of the Harris economic policy found that it would increase annual deficits by a minimum of $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years and by $2 trillion on a dynamic basis if the economy suffers from stagnation. Harris’ economic program, or as much as she has revealed of it, focuses on price controls on food and housing, a taxpayer-funded $25,000 down payment grant for first-time home buyers and $40 billion allocated towards new housing.