Replacing the Business Cycle with the Election Cycle

One consequence of the 2008 blow-up of the economy has been the increasing role of government in the business cycle. We’ve gone through periods like this before: including during the World Wars, when government’s reach was exponentially larger.

This time, while there is no physical enemy out to destroy us, the perception is that prolonged economic weakness can be our downfall as global competition increases.

While this, too, shall ultimately pass, there still seems to be a growing recognition that- at least in the short-term- what happens in Washington will have more impact on the business environment than any other moment in our recent memory.

As the pendulum predictably swings from the highly unregulated period of the early 2000s to the much more intrusive days of now, we should expect the election cycle to be far more important than in past years.

God help us all!