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What an economy doesn’t need to prosper
Politicians love to promise jobs, “a chicken in every pot,” “peace and prosperity,” and any number of other pledges that to bring economic growth to all Americans. In reality, there is very little a politician can do to positively impact the economy in the short term.
That said, there is much a politician can do to damage the economy in the short term. I could write extensively about how damaging are President Trump’s unfunded tax cut for the rich, his trade wars, and his attacks on our health insurance system. As of right now, however, the evidence seems to contradict those arguments. We are experiencing reasonably robust economic growth overall, although wage growth for most people is virtually nonexistent.
Fortunately, we don’t need to speculate to see what a politician can do to an economy in the short term. In Venezuala, profligate government spending without commensurate domestic growth led to a genuine humanitarian crisis within our hemisphere. And what’s more shocking is that Venezuela was once one of Latin America’s economic powerhouses. And it has extensive oil reserves.
Turkey is another example. To boost his efforts to establish himself as a totalitarian ruler, President Erdogan has embarked upon wildly expensive spending projects without the funding to support them. The resulting budgetary crisis has resulted in…
