Trump endorses dramatic shift to the US economy

Such a move would represent a dramatic shift aimed at combating short-term thinking inside C-Suites obsessed with pleasing investors but would also mean far less timely insights into the business world and the real economy.

In a Truth Social post this morning, Trump said companies “should no longer be forced to ‘Report’ on a quarterly basis” and should instead report results once every six months.

“This will save money, and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies,” Trump said. “Did you ever hear the statement that, ‘China has a 50 to 100 year view on management of a company, whereas we run our companies on a quarterly basis???’ Not good!!!!”

The criticism of short-term thinking echoes arguments made by others in the past, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and legendary investor Warren Buffett.

Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 presidential election opponent, said in 2016 she was “deeply distressed about quarterly capitalism.”

The concern is that Corporate America is often far too focused on pleasing the notoriously fickle stock market and not paying enough attention to longer-term challenges and opportunities.

Moreover, some argue that the regulatory burdens of quarterly reporting have contributed significantly to the sharp decline in the number of public companies in the United States.

Trump noted that moving away from quarterly reporting would be “subject to SEC Approval,” an allusion to the regulatory sign-off that would be required by regulators.

The Securities and Exchange Commission may have a chance to weigh in on such a change soon enough.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Long-Term Stock Exchange, an exchange backed by major investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund, plans to soon petition the SEC to eliminate the quarterly earnings report requirement and instead allow companies to report results once every six months.

“We hear a lot about how it’s overly burdensome to be a public company,” the exchange’s CEO Bill Harts told the paper. “This is an idea whose time has come.”

In 2018, Trump urged the SEC to study moving to a six-month reporting system to “allow greater flexibility & save money.”

Yet shareholders, economists, policymakers and others have come to rely on these timely updates from major companies.

Quarterly reports from airlines give powerful insights into shifts in travel demand, big bank results give early warnings on loan losses and Big Tech reports currently give timely updates on the state of the artificial intelligence boom.

Moving to a six-month reporting period could delay those insights and exaggerate stock moves during shifts in the economy and various industries.