#6. Leaders Appealing to the Gods
Nothing screams economic crisis like irrational appeals to higher powers by leaders in hope that things will get better. For starters, not only is this behavior illogical, but it also removes agency from the very government that created the economic mess in the first place. Economic downturns and crises are not the consequence of supernatural powers or forces of nature, they are the result of the deliberate, interventionist economic policies undertaken by these governments.
Recently, the current president of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro channeled god’s will in response to the plummeting oil prices and growing scarcity of resources that are negatively affecting Venezuela. Maduro stated that “god will provide” and that his benevolence would keep the economy going. The harsh reality is that economics is based on reality and not on flimsy appeals to spiritual or supernatural forces.
It is the free market, not god that will provide. This can only happen when the economy is no longer shackled by the State.
