Grow the Economy
Sean Hannity, host of a popular radio talk show, is a big-time toady for Donald Trump. Whatever Trump says or does, Hannity enthusiastically supports. Recently, a caller asked: Considering U.S. indebtedness, how will Trump’s war in Iran will be paid for? Hannity’s answer: ”Grow the economy”.
That statement requires some commentary from your favorite blogger.
Certainly, economic growth is a worthy goal. Republicans, of course, say it often. (And I cannot recall ever hearing those words coming from the mouth of a Democrat.) As I pointed out in this article, Trump is fond of going around claiming that he has already done just that, even though the data does not back it up.
So how, exactly, does one “grow” the economy? Well, it’s no secret. Left to its own devices, any economy, at any time, any place, naturally wants to grow. The biggest obstacle to economic growth is, has always been, and always will be: government. When government does get out of the way and allows people the liberty to buy, sell, work, earn, trade, and accumulate wealth, we call that free enterprise.
As has been repeatedly pointed out by yours truly and countless writers, free enterprise has a marvelous track record. Throughout human history, there is an unmistakable correlation between liberty and prosperity. And at the other end of the spectrum, there is also a clear correlation between heavy-handed government and poverty.
So, is President Trump an unabashed defender of free enterprise? As we say here in Texas: no way, Jose. He, like his Liberal counterparts, has pretty much embarked on a policy of tax & spend, tax & spend, tax & spend, etc. Tariffs make up the tax part, despite the noise made about the paltry, special-interest-targeted tax cuts in his One Big Beautiful Bill. And spending has only gone up, Up, UP, in both his first term and this one. Again I say: a tax cut without a corresponding spending cut accomplishes nothing.
All the big-government programs he has implemented just add to the spending. His immigration crackdown costs about $170 billion over four years (source: Google AI). This military adventure in Iran is costing us a $Billion per day. Further, the Iran War is making life more expensive, as the price of oil rises dramatically. And his short-lived Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) made just a scratch on the surface.
Meanwhile, we don’t hear a peep from Hannity and other Trump toadies about our annual multi-$Trillion budget deficits. That is the true root cause of inflation, and no economic growth comes out of inflation.
And it’s not just taxing & spending, either. No serious government departments, agencies, bureaus, or economy-restraining acts or programs have been eliminated under Trump’s tenure. There are zillions of them to choose from. Here’s an easy one: the Jones Merchant Marine Act, which greatly adds to the cost of shipping anything, which adds to the cost of everything we buy. Or how about the federal minimum wage law, which prices unskilled and low-skilled workers out of a job?
Bottom line: Hannity and the conservative pundits are guilty of spending money that ain’t even here. Projected “economic growth” is not the same as money in the bank. He’s counting his chickens before they hatch! But even if our current political leaders were pursuing true economic growth policies (which they clearly are not), spending the “profit” on yet another big-government project yields, at best, a big fat zero.
I don't think there's a single politician in Washington (ok, maybe one or two at most) who have any desire to shrink the government, cut spending, nor grow our liberty and, thereby, the economy. Call me what you will, but I just don't see it happening. The "status quo" of our two-party system and the tribalism into which Americans have descended will not permit such improvement. Too many expect government to solve our problems, all the while failing to see that government IS the problem (or at least, is the source of the problems they expect government to solve).