**** Elections thread *****

[wufwugy]

the policies congress enacts and the policy direction of congress and every other relevant body are dependent on the president.

To say he decided one day to champion a form of economics that is completely unfounded and unheard of seems unlikely to me.

sadly, that is what has happened. it is rare to find him support things that are economically sound. he couldn't pass econ 101.

note that the vast majority of people are illiterate on economics. it's so bad that economists often say one of the worst things they have to deal with is illiterate yet confident opinions on economics. this point can be understood just by knowing that econ 101 teaches the minimum wage reduces total surplus, yet many millions of people think it's a good idea. as well as we know that gravity makes apples fall from trees, we know that the minimum wage is bad economic policy, yet an entire political party and half the voting electorate supports it.

populism can be quite dangerous. sanders is an example of it, as is trump.

[JKDS]

the policies congress enacts and the policy direction of congress and every other relevant body are dependent on the president.

Congressional policy is dependent on the president's arguments like a parent's actions are dependent on their kid's arguments. Sure, there's influence, but it's congress deciding what to do and the president has no power to force them to do anything.

He can direct and decide what his agencies below him do, yes. But if congress ever decides that they don't want that agency to act how it's acting, they just threaten to cut funding. The POTUS has no ability to get money, so if congress say cuts funding to the CIA, then the CIA is gone.
Or, more realistically, they can say "heres money, it is not to be used for gathering data on citizen communications". The POTUS can do anything about that.

[wufwugy]

Congressional policy is dependent on the president's arguments like a parent's actions are dependent on their kid's arguments. Sure, there's influence, but it's congress deciding what to do and the president has no power to force them to do anything.

He can direct and decide what his agencies below him do, yes. But if congress ever decides that they don't want that agency to act how it's acting, they just threaten to cut funding. The POTUS has no ability to get money, so if congress say cuts funding to the CIA, then the CIA is gone.
Or, more realistically, they can say "heres money, it is not to be used for gathering data on citizen communications". The POTUS can do anything about that.

the way it is technically is different than the way it is practically. the laws that pass are laws the president wants passed. the degree to which he is happy with each law is proportional to how much control of each chamber his party has. the same applies for appointments. the us president is by a lot the most powerful individual on economic policy in the world.