The economy is always important to voters, but this year we should be extra vigilant when examining candidates’ economic policy positions. Why? Because we don’t have great weapons at our disposal to combat an economic downturn.

The usual policy levers, like lower interest rates and fiscal stimulus, aren’t as available as they were in 2007 at the start of the last recession. We may be, as the expression goes, bringing a knife to a gunfight. In any event, both easier money (think quantitative easing or negative interest rates) and fiscal stimulus are poor economic substitutes for true pro-growth policies.

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