If Donald Trump hopes to win Ben Stein’s vote it won’t be for his economic prognostications.

Stein, an economist and political commentator and actor, said Monday on “CNN Newsroom” that Trump’s recent prediction of a “very massive recession” coming soon in the United States was “nonsense” and that Trump’s views on the economy are “sheer idiocy.”

“It breaks my heart, it makes me want to cry because I’m Republican, I’ve never voted for a Democrat,” Stein said. “And to think the guy who’s our likely standard bearer has such nonsensical ideas of every single aspect of the economy is just breathtakingly horrible.”

Stein said he thinks Trump’s ideas on defense and foreign policy are excellent, “but his ideas about the economy are just absolutely bewilderingly foolish.”

Trump’s success in business does not translate to understanding economics, Stein said, adding that he is concerned that Trump doesn’t seen to have any real economic advisers.

“There’s just nothing factual about what he’s saying,” Stein said. “We are not in a bubble. By the way, most of these metrics are measured. The unemployment rate is not 20 percent, something he’s been saying, … [he] might as well say it’s 2 million percent. Might as well count the dead as being unemployed.”

While there may, indeed, be a recession in the offing, Trump has no way of knowing it any more than billionaire Warren Buffett or people on Wall Street making stock quotes do, Stein said.

“He must know something nobody else knows,” he said. “I don’t know where he gets this information, but maybe he’s getting it from people whispering in his ear.”

“There’s no sign we’re heading for a recession, and if we are, he doesn’t know and there’s no way that he’s going to be able to fix it. Cutting taxes is not going to fix it. Renegotiating trade deals with Mexico and China is just a way to start a gigantic recession.”

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/ben-stein-donald-trump-economy/2016/04/04/id/722235/