{"id":256539,"date":"2026-01-28T21:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/256539\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T21:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:44:13","slug":"trumps-authoritarian-agenda-poses-real-economic-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/256539\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Authoritarian Agenda Poses Real Economic Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump\u2019s latest effort to take over the Federal Reserve poses an immediate threat<\/a> to the U.S. economy. But it\u2019s also part of a larger, more pernicious problem too often ignored in the headlines: Trump\u2019s anti-democratic<\/a> actions<\/a> are eroding the very building blocks of America\u2019s economic prosperity.<\/p>\n

Democracy<\/a> and its institutions \u2014 like free and fair elections and rule of law \u2014 are proven to be the most important<\/a> factors<\/a> in long-term<\/a> economic progress<\/a>. Checks and balances, deliberation, and citizen feedback are not just niceties; they do critical economic work. Nobel Prize<\/a>-winning research reveals that democratic institutions lead to better governance, more helpful public investments, and less economically damaging policies, giving businesses and workers the opportunity to build and create.<\/p>\n

Undermining these institutions causes significant<\/a> long-term economic damage<\/a> by increasing corruption, fostering less reliable government data, increasing government debt, decreasing funding for education and health, and reducing international trade. And \u2014 just like authoritarians around the world \u2014 this is what our president is doing.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s anti-democratic actions are fueling a sharp rise in economic risk factors.<\/p>\n

Corruption increases under authoritarian leaders<\/a>, stunting<\/a> productive<\/a> economic activity<\/a>. Trump has pushed through boundaries to solicit contributions<\/a> from major corporations<\/a> that increase his political power<\/a> and financially benefit<\/a> his family. He\u2019s used the same coercive tactic to secure concessions from foreign governments. He trades the possibility of favorable<\/a> government treatment for cash. At the same time, he pardons<\/a> corrupt allies<\/a> and effectively blocks<\/a> anti-corruption efforts \u2014 further exacerbating the problem.<\/p>\n

Businesses in non-democratic countries have a hard time getting the reliable information they need to make sound investment decisions, because their leaders commonly<\/a> manipulate or hide data. Trump is now doing the same. He has taken several steps<\/a> to limit the availability of quality government data, including by censoring climate information and firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner for releasing politically damning employment figures.<\/p>\n

Autocratic leaders generally focus on short-term<\/a> stimulus while taking on<\/a> more<\/a> debt<\/a>, which can cause harm <\/a>by increasing borrowing costs, spiking inflation, and potentially even leading to financial crisis. Though government debt can sometimes be economically beneficial \u2014 such as to help smooth out consumption during a recession \u2014 Trump\u2019s debt-increasing tax cuts<\/a> focus mostly on producing a temporary sugar rush.<\/p>\n

Anti-democratic rulers blunt the development of human capital by investing less<\/a> in education and healthcare. Trump has cut funding for elementary and secondary education<\/a>, colleges<\/a>, student loans<\/a>, and university research and development<\/a>. He has also weakened efforts<\/a> to protect public health, and his healthcare coverage cuts will lead to about 10 million<\/a> more uninsured Americans by 2034. Many of these cuts<\/a> have<\/a> been<\/a> accomplished through legally problematic<\/a> means<\/a>.<\/p>\n

International trade commonly decreases under anti-democratic<\/a> leaders, limiting growth<\/a> by weakening competition and slowing productivity improvements. Trump has reduced American imports and exports<\/a> by stretching legal authority to impose near-record levels of tariffs based on his personal whims<\/a>. Estimates suggest Trump\u2019s tariffs will reduce<\/a> U.S. GDP by an 0.5 percent<\/a> in 2025 alone. Unfortunately, there is little<\/a> sign that Trump\u2019s trade actions will create a better trade regime<\/a> for the United States and its workers.<\/p>\n

The full economic effects of our president\u2019s anti-democratic actions will take years to feel. But alarm bells are already ringing. Increased corruption, bad data, higher debt, fewer investments in education, and less competition will wreak long-run economic damage on the United States.<\/p>\n

David Madland is a senior fellow and senior adviser to the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump\u2019s latest effort to take over the Federal Reserve poses an immediate threat to the U.S. economy.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-256539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}