Boom and Bust
June 20, 2016

You may be thinking, that Trump character says some stupid stuff but he’s fabulously rich and he’s the better choice for America because he’s going to make all of us poor folks super rich too – stop your thinking right there. Despite the prominent debate about terrorism going on in the United States, most people are likely to vote in November according to the issue which is most important to them: money, and by extension the economy. However despite the fact that the presidential front runners appear to be rolling in the deep, there is no proven link between personal wealth and the wealth of a country. The main reason for this misconception in America is mostly because the president tends to get too much credit when the economy booms, and usually too much blame when it doesn’t.
The state of the economy doesn’t determine every election of course, but it plays a large enough role that, coming off a still-recovering global financial crisis, it could be the determining factor in 2016. This is one of the reasons why Hillary Clinton is leaning heavily on President Obama’s record of strong job growth and the simultaneous (albeit slow) rebounding of the stock and housing markets. Donald Trump of course, through his campaign strategy of crisis branding, says the economy is barely functioning, inequality is rising and millions of people still don’t have jobs. He’s not completely wrong, but his proposed policies of tearing up trade deals, imposing higher tariffs and building a wall to keep out illegal immigrants are very questionable.
Unfortunately for all those voters who want the next president to come along and inject steroids into the economy, in the hope that they can retire in the next four years to live in their mansions and play on their golf courses, the financial ratings agency Moody’s Analytics just released its analysis of Trump’s financial policies. The news? Not good. Terms such as “fiscally unsound”, “increased debt”, “recession”, “unemployment rate rises” and “weaker US economy” abound. If Trump becomes president Moody’s is certainly hoping that Congress and the Republicans can reign him in. TBD whether that is even possible. Stay tuned for Moody’s analysis of Clinton’s wallet.
Do you believe that money makes the world go round? Movie for your mood: The Big Short