America’s current economic data reveals the following: the country’s debt is $18 trillion and rising with no end in sight, there’s been stagnant wage growth and declining net worth for the last five years, 60% of the population is living paycheck-to-paycheck, the real unemployment rate is actually 12.6%, the labor participation rate is the lowest in 36 years with 92.6 million people not employed, the middle class continues to shrink at an alarming pace, 46 million people are on food stamps, and more than one third of Americans (110 million) receive some sort of government assistance.  Considering all this negative economic data, why in the world is “consumer confidence” higher now than it was before the recession?

The answer to this question is fairly simple if you’re a student of political and economic history.  Despite the negative effects the current economic situation is having on millions of Americans, people’s optimism is shining through because they believe they can see a light at the end of the tunnel.  And that ever growing glimmer of light is the 2016 presidential election.  The American people who are hurting know that President Obama and all of his failed policies will finally be out of the White House.

History shows that this same phenomenon happened to consumer confidence during a previous recession, when Ronald Reagan was the Republican presidential candidate.  People started to become optimistic when they began to see a light at the end of the tunnel, believing that Jimmy Carter’s days in the White House could be numbered.  

When Ronald Reagan stepped onto the national stage, speaking boldly of an end to big government through the rise of American exceptionalism, people not only began to believe in Reagan’s message and vision, but began to believe in themselves and America again.  And amid that terrible economic recession, Ronald Reagan’s positive and encouraging message helped him ride the wave of growing consumer confidence all the way to the White House in a landslide election!

And because President Ronald Reagan made good on his word and his policies proved successful, America elected him again in another landslide!

Let’s all hope for the sake of our great country that the Republican nominee for president will take a page from the history books and use growing consumer confidence as part of his or her campaign strategy by proposing an end to big government through the rise of American exceptionalism.