The Republican National Convention (RNC) kicked off Monday with the old song, “It’s all about the economy, stupid.”
The phrase dates back to the early 1990s, to Democratic strategist James Carville, who was an adviser to Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign, but as a testament to the message’s staying power and cross-party resonance, it has resurfaced tonight in the form of MAGA: “Make America Prosperous Again.”
A lofty goal. Can the Republicans achieve it?
That question will be difficult to answer based solely on Monday’s program, which, as is often the case at national political conventions, focused more on platitudes than policy proposals.
The opening night saw talk of soaring food and gas prices, a claim President Joe Biden has a penchant for blaming too much of these problems on “corporate greed,” a claim he repeated at a high-profile press conference last week. (This begs the question: Were grocery store owners just being charitable until their recent greed took hold?)
The more real culprit is inflation, but it is doubtful that another term by Trump, or indeed any president, will be an antidote to that.
That’s because inflation, like most problems, is complex and multifaceted and cannot be solved or blamed on any one person, no matter how convenient that may be in a conference call.
Trump Adds about $8 trillion Biden will pay off the debt during his term in office and immediately $1.9 stimulus checkNeither expenditure helped, but so did a host of other factors, including a global pandemic and destabilizing energy markets due to international conflict.
As part of his deregulation agenda, Trump has proposed some deflationary policies that could increase supplies of staple goods and lower prices. This is great. But other parts of the Trump-inspired Republican platform resemble the protectionist policies once favored by Democrats. Just because these policies are wrapped up in a brand of statist conservatism doesn’t change the outcome.
For example, by raising the prices of manufacturing inputs, Increase the actual price For consumers, Trump’s new running mate, J.D. Vance, doesn’t necessarily ease those concerns. Comparative advantage According to Trump, the purpose of this election is to make a protectionist appeal to blue-collar workers in battleground states.
What happened united nationsWhat was said tonight may be even more insightful in determining how a second term of the Trump Administration will tackle government spending, and therefore inflation. For example, it is unpopular these days for Republicans to have grown-up discussions about reforming Social Security and Medicare, even as Social Security is hurtling toward bankruptcy.
“Failure to act will create a fiscal scenario in which Republicans have little leverage while Democrats push through their preferred ‘solutions.'” write reason “The resulting higher taxes and rising debt would have far-reaching, unhealthy consequences for the economy and future generations,” wrote contributing editor Véronique de Rouguy. That might not fly at the Republican National Convention this week, but it’s worth considering if Republicans want to get serious about tackling the issue of inflation.
