The announcement of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate should help U.S. markets. That’s the message from a recent post by Amity...
The announcement of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate should help U.S. markets. That’s the message from a recent post by Amity Shlaes for Bloomberg. Shlaes — director of The 4% Growth Project — notes that politicians often discuss “jobs” without realizing that investors are more concerned with things like “interest rates, exchange rates, bond prices and the one great factor that affects all three: the long-term solvency of a bond company called the U.S. government.” Usually these issues do not receive serious coverage during elections, Shlaes notes, because they are too complicated and often highly controversial. But with the selection of Ryan as VP candidate, this election may be different. Ryan is a “numbers guy,” and he has made a name for himself by paying attention to the budget. Romney’s adding Ryan to the ticket signals that the GOP is serious about the budget, and wants budget-related issues to dominate the national debate. The Democrats are likely to jump on this budget invitation because Ryan has a long list of specific legislation that can be picked apart. The result is that budget issues will get major media exposure for the next few months. This is a good thing. Shlaes notes that even if the Romney-Ryan ticket loses in November, “the increased exposure of these topics will alter public consciousness.” Of course, having staked their campaign on the budget, we can expect budget reform to be top priority should Romney-Ryan win. You can read Shlaes’s entire Bloomberg article here.
