Ruchir Sharma’s analysis of the abysmal trend of political leaders’ popularity in leading democracies (“Why political leaders are so unpopular now”, Opinion, January 29) is very informative, particularly his observation of a “long-term decay in national morale”.
In addition to the economic trends and social media he cites, long-term policy trends also contributed to this disaffection. Conservative US politicians have pushed tax reduction for 40 years, claiming it improves economic growth — which it does not — despite the US total tax burden being the lowest of all major economies. But reduced tax revenues produce excessive deficits. Republican leaders urge deficit reduction by shredding the social safety net with attempts to privatise Social Security and abrogate the Affordable Care Act.
Deregulation is another high priority conservative objective with the principal beneficiaries the wealthy and business. But deregulation opened the door to the dotcom crash and the 2007-2009 financial crisis, consequences of which mostly affected Main Street. Post-crisis, Dodd-Frank usefully tightened regulation of the banking system but left the non-bank financial system lightly regulated, allowing it to grow into an enormous, highly leveraged private sector.
Income inequality is the worst since the 1920s thanks to regressive tax cuts and deregulation. Gillian Tett noted the US promotes the “national myth” of “democratic shareholder capitalism” with widespread equity ownership (America has a concentration problem”, Opinion, January 4). But the “dirty secret”, she writes, is that the richest 10 per cent of Americans own 92.5 per cent of the equities market.
Downsizing the federal government, especially its regulatory, infrastructural and social roles, while increasing the power of the states, is another a long-term conservative policy objective.
Such self-serving policies contribute to the decaying national morale.
J Paul Horne
Alexandria, VA, US
