Impact of the 2018 Midterm Election

The 2018 midterm election is nearly over. Most of the national attention is focused on the control of Congress. Can the Democrats wrest control of the House and/or Senate from Republicans, or will the GOP retain control of either Chamber?

From a fiscal policy standpoint, it may not matter what happens. That is a rather dour assessment, but it’s true. If you look at the annual budget deficits since 2000, it doesn’t seem to matter much which party controls Congress or the White House. There have been all variations of party control over the past 18 years, and the result is the same… annual deficits ranging from $140 billion to $1.4 trillion. Although both parties may talk about balancing the budget and reducing the debt, neither have taken any serious action over the past two decades to do anything about it. Instead, they have more than doubled the national debt in less than a decade.

Since balancing the budget and reducing the $21 trillion national debt are largely absent from the political discourse in the midterm elections, don’t expect whoever is elected to suddenly pay attention to them. Balancing the budget and reducing the debt is going to require difficult decisions, which may be politically unpopular. As a result, few politicians will tackle these issues. It’s far easier to promise constituents something more (either more spending or less taxes), than take a controversial stance that may anger certain voters.

It’s a rather pessimistic view, but probably realistic to think little will be done over the next two years to change our nation’s fiscal policies no matter who wins on Tuesday. The 2018 midterm election may be impact a lot of other issues, but it isn’t likely to change the financial position of the U.S. government.

Freedom and Independence

Yesterday America celebrated freedom and independence. Although our nation is not perfect and we face many challenges, we have freedoms, independence and a standard of living few people of the world enjoy.

In reflection of this day, I see a correlation between freedom and independence. The more independent you are, the more freedom you can enjoy. Conversely, the more dependent you are upon a person, group or institution, the less freedom you have.

Many self-employed persons and entrepreneurs cite freedom and flexibility as one of their great benefits. These people still have to sell products and take care of their customers if they want to be successful, but they typically have more freedom than most employees, who are told when to work and when they can take time off. Frequently, the more dependent a person becomes on their job, the more freedom they are willing to give up.

The same concept applies to our relationship with government. The more dependent we become on the government to provide for our needs, the less freedoms we will enjoy. I recall images in the late 1970's and early 1980's of people in former communist countries of Eastern European lining up every day for their ration of food. They had little freedom and were heavily dependent upon their government for their survival. It may not have been by choice, but their dependence came with a lack of freedom.

This is not a sweeping statement that all government is bad. It's just an observation that the more dependent we become on the government, the less freedom we will eventually enjoy.

What do you think about the relationship between freedom and independence?