With tax season just behind us, this is the time of year when many Americans have naturally had their attention focused on pocketbook issues. And with the recent news that the economy added almost 200,000 jobs in March, showing a strong recovery from an unexpectedly weak February, there are positive signs that the American economic engine will continue humming along.

But beyond the day-to-day news, there are storm clouds on the economic horizon. A troubling lack of basic economic literacy in our politics threatens the long-term health and growth of the world’s most dynamic economy. A free market is a complex system that involves hundreds of millions of individuals making a multitude of economic decisions. Centralized control is impossible, but the United States does have a toolbox full of regulatory, tax, and tariff levers that can influence the economy and the allocation of resources. Unfortunately, politicians on both sides of the aisle propose using these tools in ways that don’t make economic sense.