Morgan Nielsen

ECON 1010
Professor Magnusson
E-Portfolio Assignment

Reflection: Past Presidential Election and Contrasting the U.S vs.

British Systems
Its only been several months and yet it has felt much longer. The 2016

year of elections is over and Mr. Donald Trump is now the president of the

United State of America. As I reflect on this time of history the events leading

up to it are quite blurred, however this much I can say. In contrast to what I

would call a normal election period, filled with enthusiasm for change and

meaningful discussion and debate, this election was nothing but candidates

verbally insulting one another, and the media portraying such events as a

reality show. Regardless of who had won the election I felt embarrassed to be

an American, and even more so now due to having taken an economics class

and learning about important principles and topics which were not given

their fair share of discussion, being swept under the rug of personal attacks

and nonsense arguments.

Another aspect of the U.S. presidential elections that has always been

of concern to me are their financing. The amount of money spent on

campaigning during elections in the U.S. is one of the most significant

differences (in my opinion) between our system and that of Great Britain, the

U.S. spending on the lower scale as much as ten times what Britain spends.
That number is obviously distorted higher since the U.S. has a much longer

election period and therefore time to spend more money, but distortion can

only account for so much extra financing. Is so much money necessary for a

routine event that elects just one individual? Who while having political and

economic powers, certainly does not possess all of them. Could not a portion

of this money be kept within corporations for further investments in capital

and development?

Furthermore, the topic of campaign financing is only one side of the

coin. The other is to acknowledge how such financing influences and effects

politics and economics. President Trump, while still a running candidate

commented on the topic of campaign financing saying,

I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people. Before this,

before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When

they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them,
1
two years later, three years later, I call them. They are there for me,

Now, I appreciate the honesty and clarity in this statement, what concerns

me however is this: I scratch your back, you scratch mine scenario between

candidates and funders. Anyone who has studied economics will know that it

is associated with government policy. Part of the governments role being to

intervene and assist the economy in times of recession or inflation. So, the

problem I see in this scenario that Trump describes is that it gives the funder

1 "Big Money and How Lobby Groups Influence Political Parties and US Elections."
Watching America. N.p., 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.
of a successful candidate partial control over the decisions concerning

government policy, and that funders desires might not exactly match, or

even worse oppose, what might be best policy/decisions for the economy at

the current time.