Few things fertilize populism as much as excessive government resources.

Few things fertilize populism as much as excessive government resources.

Sir, I refer to “Populism thrives because people are mad, and also because they’re sad” Charles Lane, Washington Post, August 10, 2023.

Without opining on its arguments, as someone from a nation cursed by centralized oil revenues (Venezuela) I must remind you that few things propel populism, of the good, bad or ugly types, as too much government financial power. 

So let me quote Paul Volcker from his 2018 autobiography “Keeping at it” penned together with Christine Harper: “Assets for which bank capital/equity requirements were nonexistent, were what had the most political support; sovereign credits. A ‘leverage ratio’ discouraged holdings of low-return government securities”. Which, for the risk weighted bank capital requirements of Basel I in 1988, meant decreeing risk weights of: 0% Federal Government – 100% We the People.

That has set the America I admire on a course much different from what its Founding Fathers dreamt of. Neither the US Congress or SCOTUS have ever questioned such regulatory overreach.

I asked ChatGPT – OpenAI: “From a political philosophy’s angle, where would those risk weight most likely fit: Russia, Argentina or the United States?  It answered Russia and Argentina. “Government assets receiving preferential treatment over citizen assets, would not align with the prevailing political philosophy in the United States.”

Sir, has AI got it all wrong?

The more there's in the piñata, the larger it is, the harder will be the fight for its contents, so as to gain access to what can be shared out (against support/votes) to admiring/needing supporters.

Pocas cosas fertilizan populismo y autocracias tanto, como excesivos recursos gubernamentales. Cuanto más en la piñata, más dura la lucha por su contenido, para tener acceso a que compartir, entre admiradores y partidarios, contra su apoyo y sus votos.

@PerKurowski