Mnuchin: Well, you must seem to have a bias because you're using the words "engineered," so you obviously think that it was the policy the policies were created. Again, what I would say is we fundamentally believe that we will have economic growth and again, 35 basis points is the break even. And we're already seeing this. By the way, we're seeing companies give millions and millions of workers bonuses all as a result of this. And for people who are getting these thousand-dollar bonuses, these are not crumbs.Ryssdal: Absolutely not, and I'm not going to imply that at all. You said 4 million workers in this economy?
Mnuchin: Four and a half million.
Ryssdal: Four and a half million have gotten one-time bonuses.
Mnuchin: Yes.
Ryssdal: So this is a labor pool of 155 million people, sir.
Mnuchin: So are you, tell me, are you, for those four and a half million workers —
Ryssdal: So my question is —
Mnuchin: in one month. That's a big deal. That's a big deal. Four and a half million workers have already seen this impact.
Ryssdal: By some estimates —
Mnuchin: I understand you're doing the math.
Ryssdal: No. So the Americans for Tax Reform say plus or minus, 86 companies have given wage increases, 250 companies have given one-time bonuses, and I guess the question is, what would you rather have? Would you rather have a one-time bonus or a consistent wage increase over the next couple of years?
Mnuchin: We fundamentally believe that there will be wage increases going through to the workers.
Ryssdal: Why do you believe that?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 1 March 2018 13:05 (six years ago) link