If they worship kumquats and believe that tapping their noses with crowbars elevates them toward the divine we say they embrace myths. Kumquats and crowbars are too much for our scientific, Cartesian logic to allow. Fact is, periods of rapid economic growth always bring higher unemployment and lower wages. Recessions do the opposite. Big businesses, especially very big businesses, do well when growth is galloping, individuals and families do better when it walks or stops completely.
Growth brings instability and crime, stagnation stabilizes.
It's pretty obvious who benefits from the mything of the electorate, and it's equally clear who foots the bill. Adam Smith, the great guru of market theory, said that for market forces to act in everyone's best interests producers of goods have to bear all of the costs of production. That means costs have to be internalized. When costs are externalized, that is, paid by someone who doesn't stand to gain or lose from sale of the product, the market becomes skewed and works against society's best interests. In recent years national, state and local governments are climbing all over each other to lure business.