A Strong Economy Needs a Strong Demography
In the short term, the picture is clear: until the pandemic hit, the Trump-era economy performed well, with low unemployment, GDP growth, and a booming stock market. When Democrats crossed the threshold of the White House again, American families began to lose purchasing power. Undoubtedly, Trump’s policies are already proving beneficial in contrast to the inflation crisis triggered by Biden, while the various effects of the controversial tariff wars will become clear very soon. But, once again, in this series of articles, we are interested in the long term.
Perhaps the top long-term economic priority for a conservative administration … is to achieve a natalist revolution.
A true long-term conservative economic policy should consider three pillars: the economy, jobs and industry, and demography. The third is perhaps the most important because, strictly speaking, it is the one that depends the least on the political will of the government. What I mean is that, for now (and let’s pray to God it stays that way), Trump cannot press a red button to repopulate America with industrially manufactured babies.
Revitalizing the population requires pro-life and pro-family initiatives, economic incentives, a culture that supports motherhood (the exact opposite of what’s currently promoted on Netflix and other woke platforms), a robust labor market, and restoring safety on the streets. It might sound silly, but no one wants to raise children in neighborhoods that resemble Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive.
The baby boomer generation is entering retirement en masse, overloading health and social services far more than previous generations: after all, these folks had a lot of fun, and modern medicine allows them to keep having fun for a few more years. In other words, they’re reaching retirement with their livers in tatters and a deep desire to keep enjoying life. On the other hand, the working-age population is growing much more slowly than retirements are occurring.
A truth that pro-abortion Democrats hate to hear: there’s no way to sustain a country’s economy if you don’t have people available to work. Birth rates are falling, which will only worsen the situation. This trend isn’t easy to reverse because the left’s anti-motherhood cultural propaganda has permeated every corner: from TV shows to influencer speeches, from female empowerment to the war on men, not to mention the promotion of a growing mass of young people castrated for an impossible sex change — young people who, for reasons that wouldn’t impress Einstein, are unavailable to repopulate the nation. (READ MORE: An Instruction Manual for Lent)
Perhaps the top long-term economic priority for a conservative administration that wants to leave a better future for the next generations is to achieve a natalist revolution. We must reverse the cultural trend, strengthen the family as the building block of society — as John Paul II said — and decisively commit to filling America with Americans. We already know that, as in Europe, there are many jobs that workers no longer want to do, but for that, there’s an extraordinary resource that the United States, until recently, has managed masterfully: legal immigration. And the first requirement to promote legal immigration is to eliminate illegal immigration.
During his first term, Donald Trump inherited an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent and managed to lower it to 3.5 percent. Joe Biden, on the other hand, boasted about achieving the largest percentage drop in history, but I assume you remember that he started from the pandemic shutdowns, when the unemployment rate reached 14.8 percent, the highest point since the Great Depression. What would have been truly catastrophic is if, after reopening commerce and social life, the rate hadn’t dropped sharply — a rate that Democrats worsened with their obsession with keeping everything shut down indefinitely.
But, as we saw during the pandemic, the unemployment rate is a short-term indicator. Conservatives must decide where they want to steer their industries, and Trump seems to have already taken sides: revitalizing domestic production and reducing dependence on foreign manufacturing.
As for the economy, as I mentioned in the previous article, the essential long-term goal is to reduce debt and control spending. The immediate plan to slim down the government is Musk’s DOGE, the alter ego of Javier Milei’s chainsaw approach. But, alongside this, massive deregulation is urgently needed to let economies flow freely again. (READ MORE from Itxu Diaz: Why Conservatives Need a Long-Range Vision)
There’s something that works wonders for a nation’s economy, whether in the short or long term: lowering taxes. A conservative who isn’t in favor of lowering taxes is a short-term, results-oriented conservative, one who only thinks about their next reelection. I trust Trump. Fortunately, Trump doesn’t have that problem and can focus exclusively on future generations.
The downside of long-term economic policy is that it often generates unease and yields poor results in the short term. There’s one more thing the government can do: educate. Tell your citizens that you’re taking measures, for the first time, with the goal of leaving a better country for their grandchildren. If you explain it well, maybe they’ll decide not to throw eggs at the White House after all and go back to their daily work.
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