I like this analogy from economist Justin Wolfers. Politicians are employees of the people. We are the bosses. And like with any boss, it’s impossible to know what our employees are doing all the time. But in democratic societies we have the free press, which helps us keep tabs on them.
If our employees aren’t performing, we can then decide to fire them by voting them out. This is, of course, good for general business because bosses need to know if their people aren’t performing. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and if the bosses aren’t managing, markets will price that in.
I’m astonished that these are analogies that need to be put forward today in the context of the US, but it’s the unfortunate reality of the current administration.
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