Remember school report cards under a grading system?  Teachers would give scores for tests and tally up your total and then declare your grade.  Careful students would already know their grade because they would have paid attention to what they were doing.  What is Congress doing?  Is Congress paying attention?

How do you think that they are performing as legislators?  What are the consequences of their policies?  Did Congress try to get outcomes that would create prosperity for most Americans?  Aren’t there more people on the margins of society now–people, for example, who can’t find a job?  Do you think that Congress is maybe just trying to save people at the margins from some of the economic disasters that Congress has been causing with deregulation, globalization, financialization, and greater economic centralization?  Does Congress even have a plan in mind for overall prosperity?  Some members of Congress sound like they’re telling themselves that the ACA is for saving people at the margins, but just look at the people who are not saved, and look at high inflation in healthcare.  And look at cyber-insecurity that extends to those new digitized healthcare accounts.

Congress doesn’t seem to look out for the long-term consequences of their decisions, from globalization, to financialization to war.  Lately, since so much of our economy is going digital, I’ve wondered what would happen if our satellites were destroyed or taken over by a foreign power.  Should we rely so much economically upon digital technologies?  If you were Congress’s teacher, wouldn’t you remind them that long-term outcomes matter to our society and to individuals?  Would you instruct Congress to look not just at tomorrow but at many years worth of tomorrows?

I wish that members of Congress would give their own policies a grade.  I would like them to remember what they were trying to accomplish with globalization or financialization or adopting digital technologies or many of their other big change policies that have established the “new normal”.  Then I would like Congress to evaluate their policies based on their original goals.  Did they achieve their goals?  Then they could also evaluate the unintended consequences of their policies.  Give the policy a grade.  Should Congress keep that policy or change it based on the outcomes that it has caused?

As Congress has continued practicing economic interventionism, their effectiveness as legislators has declined.  But Congress continues on a path of economic interventions.  How can we stop Congress from making even more economic mistakes?  How can we restore Congress to a more effective legislative body?  What changes are necessary?  How can we become a strong nation again based on improved economic performance and improving prosperity?  Read Political Catsup with Economy Fries to discover answers to these questions and others, available on Amazon.com.