Trump’s undeliverable promises

Donald Trump’s stunning victory has not only proved an overwhelming majority of election pundits wrong, but also shocked the majority of American voters who voted against him in this election. So much is the intensity of disbelief and shock of Democrat voters that they have started protesting. This wave of fury, if it continues to escalate, may hurt the US economy. There may be many reasons for such an upsetting result and I am sure the experts will keep analysing this result during the weeks and months to come, but one thing that immediately comes to my mind is that it was an economic vote more than anything else. If you promise to the unemployed or underemployed voters that you can fix their problem by building a wall along the Mexican border or by imposing tariffs on Chinese imports or by ignoring dangers of climate change, it is very likely that you can win the election.

It is almost impossible to think that that Trump will be able to deliver on his promises. This election has some parallels to the Pakistan 1970 election. We in Pakistan had gone through such an experience in the year 1970 when our economy was doing very well and Pakistan was on steady path of economic growth. At that time Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto contested the election for the leadership of the country and promised that his government would provide bread, clothing and housing to everyone in Pakistan. Certainly this economic slogan was a dream for every Pakistani voter. As a result, Bhutto won the election. We all knew Bhutto made a promise on which he could not deliver. Similarly, Trump won by making undeliverable promises to American voters.

— The reader is a chartered accountant based in Dubai.