Sputnik: In your view, what impact will an impeachment process of Donald Trump have on the US and the global economy?
Greg McKenna: It would certainly cause a bit of eruption in markets but it's probably still some time away. We'd have to see the Democrats take the House in the November elections, which, of course, is a chance; so that's where the origination of the impeachment proceeding would happen. But you need two-thirds of the Senate to convict and that's unlikely to happen, but the process will certainly get markets going, but not till November.
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Sputnik: Donald Trump has also said that he's been doing a good job. What's your take on the way the president has been handing his job and the changes that have occurred in the US economy during his term so far?
Greg McKenna: In many ways he needed to call out the Chinese — or somebody needed to call out the Chinese — for the way that they've been running their economy, intellectual property and those kinds of things. And he has also been quite positive for the economy insofar as the tax stimulus, the whole debate to bring money home. We've seen a 24-percent increase in business investments from S&P 500 companies, we've got 3.9 percent, roughly, unemployment. It looks like the US economy has got momentum. So, the sugar from his policies is certainly working its way through; but then if you think about how he's been conducting himself politically with allies and foes, then that's a different story. But I think economically he has done a reasonable job for the US. The Fed's tightening because the economy is so strong. And he has probably guaranteed that this becomes the longest expansion the US economy has seen. So, in that sense, you'd probably give him a tick, plenty of other things you'd give him a cross, though.
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Sputnik: Do you feel that a lot of the economic situation was already in place by the Obama administration and that he's just taken hold of the mantle, so to say, and run with it. How much of this success should be put down to his predecessor?
Greg McKenna: Oh, I think a large part of where the US economy is right now. It goes to Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and the stock market that has been rallying for 3,454 days it will be — something like that — a record itself. So, I think that the previous administration set the scene — Trump has built on it.
The views and opinions expressed by the speaker do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.