00:00 Speaker A
Can America’s economy stay exceptional? Our next guest says the answer is no longer clear. Yes. Joining us now is Rebecca Patterson, Bridgewater Associates former chief investment strategist. Rebecca, it’s good to see you. So, let’s get right to this Op Ed, Rebecca. So can America stay exceptional? The answer you say is no longer a clear yes. How come, Rebecca? Walk us through it.
00:34 Rebecca Patterson
Sure. Well, there are certain things that I think are clearly still exceptional. We have an innovative culture, relative to many peers. We have a lighter touch regulatory system. I know some would like it even lighter. Uh, we have a strong educational system. We have a growing labor market, although at a slower pace. So, we have some bedrock foundations there that I think are really important. What I worry about are some of the things being chipped away at. They’re not gone, but we should just be cognizant that they’re being chipped away at. You know, things like research and development, if we’re taking away government funds and other funds to support the innovation, it’s the innovation that’s driving the productivity growth in the United States that helps keep our GDP elevated. So that would be one factor. On immigration, I think everyone agrees we need a clear immigration policy. We need border control, but we also need to make sure we have enough workers. You know, when you think about manufacturing, both parties want to have a strong manufacturing sector, but a lot of the manufacturing jobs today, today, before we reshore are going unfilled because they can’t find enough qualified workers. So, we want to make sure we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. That’s probably a terrible analogy. Excuse me. But we want to make sure we have enough people here to do the jobs of the future and that they’re trained appropriately. So that’s another piece that I’m a little worried we’re chipping away at. And then finally what we’ve been living through for the last week or so, is just the trust in the global system in America as a reliable partner. Now foreign direct investments to the United States creates millions of jobs. And we need to make sure we keep those partnerships so companies and countries continue to want to put money to invest in the United States and to buy our assets. I know that the dollar is overvalued today. We would like the dollar to be somewhat weaker. However, all that capital coming into the US pushes up our stock prices, holds down on our borrowing costs, and that contributes to household wealth, which then allows Americans to spend, companies to invest. So, we need to make sure everyone is is participating in that, but we also don’t want to end that cycle, because overall it’s been a pretty good thing.