Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein said Wednesday the political environment in the United States is “pretty bad.”
Blankfein was speaking in an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on the challenges of small business owners. In his appearance, the Goldman chief said, in contrast, the economy is “pretty good.”
“If you were frozen in an iceberg for four years and … you woke up, came out, thawed and you saw an economy that’s full employment, low energy prices, basically balance sheets have been cured, a lot of cash again, low rates, you think … it’s pretty good,” he told MSNBC.
“People may not like the job the have in every case, they never do,” he said. “Financial conditions and economic conditions are really not as bad as politics would suggest.”
Blankfein also said the U.S. needs to stay focused on wealth generation — even as there’s more stress over wealth distribution. That’s for the politicians, he added.
He spoke after U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday as the Dow Jones industrial average approached another milestone. The 30-stock index rose 72.80 points close at a record of 21,963.92, with 3M and Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump touted the rebound in economic growth and reiterated his promise to drive GDP above 3 percent.
