Blackrock's Larry Fink: Trump Should Cut Red Tape but Focus More on Infrastructure
President Trump is taking executive action to ease tax and regulatory burdens. He signed three executive orders that direct Secretary Steven Mnuchin to evaluate regulations issued last year at the Treasury. One of the orders aims to scale back the Obama-era Dodd-Frank law meant to prevent another financial meltdown.
Blackrock (NYSE:BLK) Chairman and CEO Larry Fink says even though President Obama “went a little too far†on regulatory issues, President Trump should “focus on infrastructure.â€
“A reduction in regulation is necessary. I do believe it will unlock some money, it will streamline our economy,†he told the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo. “But probably the simplest thing the president can do is to really focus on infrastructure.â€
President Trump has called on Congress to pass a bill that will invest $1 trillion into America’s deteriorating infrastructure that would finance public and private capital, but in Fink’s opinion, Build America Bonds — taxable bonds created during the financial crisis – would give an “immediate shock to the local communities.â€
“It would create jobs very rapidly and we would finally start breaking down this horrible path we are in of having among the worst infrastructure in the world,†he said.
Fink added that states individually cannot afford to improve their infrastructure.
“We have over a trillion dollars…of deferred maintenance and one of the structural problems we have — the state and local governments’ financings are not strong. Some are, some are weak, but overall because the pension fund liability, some of the states are encumbered by, because of other needs, the states don’t have the money for the infrastructure to even prepare,†he said.