“I think we are going to see in 2019 that it is a little softer than 2018. We just came off of a 3.5% Real GDP quarter. I think the consensus that a little bit of a slowdown next year is correct. That said what is keeping the economy going is in part a fiscal boost, a little bit on the spending side, and on the tax policy side, both putting cash in people’s pockets.”
“We’ve seen three months of strong economic growth in the labor market and we are adding jobs. I’d also just add we are two weeks away of getting the state level numbers and I think that will be informative both with respect to the weather effects and quite frankly some of the political aspects. We will have a better insight as to where these jobs are being created.”
In the ‘Something More with Chris Boyd’ interview, Brill discusses the state of the economy.
“…. There are specific issues with regards to our trade relationship with China. But not only with China, with other of our major trading partners around the world. We are better off with good intellectual property laws. We are better off with lower tariff and non-tariff barriers. We need a process that takes us from where we are forward and not backwards, of course.”
Brill said, “If we take a market-based approach, which we think is a conservative strategy to addressing climate change, we want to use price signals, and a carbon tax is a price signal. It negates the need for…the regulatory toolbox that’s currently being deployed…and allows the market to find…the most efficient way to get emissions down.”
On CNBC’s ‘Closing Bell,’ Alex Brill discusses the US Supreme Court’s ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. to require out-of-state sellers to collect the same sales tax that in-state resellers must collect.
