“During the only stable dollar eras of the last century, annual GDP growth averaged 4.9% in 1922-29, 4% in 1948-71, and 3.7% in 1983-2000. The volatile dollar from 2000 to 2022 saw average growth of a paltry 1.9%. Had the dollar remained stable since 2000, with an enduring 3.7% growth, the economy would be nearly 50% greater than it is today, and we would have avoided multiple financial crises along the way.” – Vivek Ramaswamy, The Wall Street Journal, 05/01/2023

That quote was from an article titled “Prosperity Requires a Stable Dollar,” which should be required reading for all Republican Presidential candidates.

Is it possible a major contributor to the current craziness is 23 years of bad economic policy?  (Policy was better for a brief time during the Trump years, but Trump didn’t have to clear a high bar.)

For almost 20 years before the turn of the 21st century, the US dollar was stable and the economy prospered.  Then a great devaluation started during the George W. Bush administration and continued through a good part of the Obama administration.  The devaluations were off and on since then. The result has been slow growth and less opportunity for everyone.  And this has been sold as the “new normal” with the implication that things can never be can better.

The Federal Reserve Board simply doesn’t know what to do, but it’s gonna do something anyway.

More from Ramaswamy’s article:

The global market will hang on every word of every FOMC press conference to see what a dozen central planners have to say. That won’t be because these planners have any special insight. Everyone will listen to see what the Fed may destabilize next.

Concurrent with the unstable dollar, our culture has accelerated toward bats*** craziness.  Coincidence?  Steve Forbes doesn’t think so:

Invisible and intangible though they may be, the effects of unstable money on the economy and the society can be devastating and long-lasting. They include widespread economic and financial distortions, sudden bouts of speculation and market volatility, and social unrest that if left unchecked, could undermine the very foundations of our society.

That was from Forbes’ book, Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy – and What We Can Do About It, another must-read, IMHO.

Mr. Ramaswamy’s odds of being the Republican nominee are not great, but I hope our eventual nominee will put him in charge of the Treasury.  And then listen to him.

Conservatives used to be good at economics.  We need to ignore the siren song of big government conservatives and get there again.

Otherwise, we become a socialist country run by angry trannies.