Remind President Trump to Trust the Market

Originally published as a Letter to the Editor in The Wall Street Journal. 

I served as chief economist at President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget during his first term, and I agree with Matthew Continetti (“Big Government Won’t Help President Trump on Affordability,” Free Expression, Jan. 16).

What made the first Trump administration successful on affordability was supply-side reforms that trusted markets to work. Cutting regulations, expanding the housing supply, boosting domestic energy production and promoting competition to lower prices all proved effective.

That’s why it is troubling to see the president flirting with policies straight out of the Sanders-Warren playbook in his second term.

Price controls on credit card interest rates may sound populist, but decades of evidence show they reduce access to credit, especially for lower-income and higher-risk borrowers.

Banning institutional investors from single-family housing would reduce capital flowing into housing markets, shrink supply and ultimately raise costs for renters and buyers. Housing affordability improves when we build more homes, not when we restrict who can finance them.

President Trump’s first term proved that market-driven solutions work. Returning to those principles is the surest path to restoring affordability and economic growth.

Vance Ginn

Round Rock, Texas