Dear business CEOs backing the GOP MAGA ex-president, please study world history which repeatedly demonstrates how economies falter from unpredictable volatile fluctuations when countries transition from a democracy to an autocracy, especially when led by incompetent, self-serving leaders.

Recent transitions into autocracies by formerly democratic governed countries like Hungary and Turkey have ended up being less than stellar, in particular foreign investment has virtually disappeared.  Even if the country starts off being led by well-meaning, competent autocratic leaders, over time, too many powerful heads of Fascist type states become overly confident while remaining in power too long. These strongmen develop a sense of omnipotence so that when they act foolishly by executing counter-productive economic plans, the results can destroy a country. This happens because autocrats are surrounded by yes men who’re afraid to challenge them. After a few years in power, they’ll have done significant damage to judicial, free press, military infrastructures, to where there’re no checks and balances in place to challenge poorly thought-out policies.

There are some business news pundits who’d point out to the economic success of a country like Singapore with a soft-authoritarian type of government. But the way Singapore is governed doesn’t remotely resemble how the USA would be run as an autocracy.

There’s no way that a GOP MAGA authoritarian head of state would govern in a competent, professional manner as exemplified by countries like Singapore. It’d more resemble the economic templates of nations like Russia, Turkey, Hungary, etc.

Just take a quick review of the Russian economy. The GOP MAGA ex-president has made his desire to emulate all things, Russian, including its economy. As per a December 2023 Reuters article:

There are some business news pundits who’d point out to the economic success of a country like Singapore with a soft-authoritarian type of government. But the way Singapore is governed doesn’t remotely resemble how the USA would be run as an autocracy.

Let’s take a look at the success of Singapore’s economy…

As per the 2024 article by smartwealth.sg, 5 Reasons Why Singapore Is So Rich (& How Rich Is It?):

“One can say that the turning point was when Singapore became an independent nation, with the late Lee Kuan Yew as the prime minister.”

“Singapore was fortunate enough to have competent leaders at the helm.”

“One such person was the late Lee Kuan Yew, also known as the nation’s founding father. He was the first prime minister of Singapore, and first entered office on 5 June 1959 and spent a total of 31 years and 178 days in office. One of Lee’s focuses was on developing the economy.”

(Many) “may consider the running of Singapore as “soft authoritarian”, it has made progress easier as there wasn’t constant resistance along the way. But this can only be possible if the country is run by capable leaders in a clean and honest government.”

“(Lee did this by setting) up anti-corruption legislation and linked the salaries of those running the government to top professionals in the private sector. This enabled the government to attract and retain competent people.”

“As of today, the prime minister of Singapore is the highest-paid politician in the world, earning approximately S$2.2 million a year, including bonuses. The president earns around S$1.5 million a year.”

“The ministers who run their ministries are remunerated with fixed salaries as well as bonuses linked to performance and socio-economic outcomes of Singaporeans. Ministers typically earn S$1.1 million a year. ”

“Practically speaking, when government leaders are well paid and their performance is linked to socio-economic outcomes, they’re more inclined to focus on building the country (and less on earning money through unscrupulous ways).”

“One key decision (to improve its economy) was to open up the country to attract foreign investments from all around the globe.”

“It did this through the implementation of business-friendly government policies and through providing valuable human capital.”

“Here’re some of the reasons why Singapore was able to attract foreign investments:”

• Tax incentives
• Ease of setting up businesses
• Robust business-friendly ecosystem
• Liberal immigration policies
• Corruption-free government
• Politically stable environment

“Furthermore, the government has invested heavily in education so that Singaporeans are well equipped to handle complex roles. English was also made the “default” language in Singapore, enabling its people to communicate with others on a global scale.”

“Going one step further to provide a more diverse workforce, the government has enabled companies to hire foreign professionals. This has closed the gap of supply and skill shortages so that Singapore continues to be attractive to global companies.”

“These factors, amongst others, have helped to increase overall GDP and allow the economy to grow without any natural resources.”

“Income and wealth inequality in developed countries is a common occurrence. If we were to factor in the increasing cost of living in Singapore, would those in the lower-income groups be able to cope?”

“Fortunately, the government has made combating inequality a national priority and has been reducing it over the years. It does this with the use of government transfers (GST vouchers, CPF top-ups, etc) to redistribute wealth to lower-income families. In 2023, an average of S$13,623 in government transfers, were given to each household member staying in HDB one- and two-room flats.”

“The government can be in such a position to provide more for the needy because of the reserves it has accumulated throughout the years.”

This Singapore plan to lift up the needy is counter to GOP MAGA thinking that has long been in favor of cutting so-called entitlement programs like social security, Medicare and Obamacare.

Yes, democracies are cumbersome and messy, but this type of governance is the best insurance/ protection/ bulwark to prevent the development of a disastrous economy because of incompetent autocratic Fascist leaders making foolish economic decisions, solo mio. And so, while the GOP MAGA ex-president woos corporate executives with promises of lower taxes and relief from governmental regulatory burdens, he neglects to point out the effect that his proposal to raise tariffs by 10% on foreign made goods will have on US inflation rates and/ or about how further tax cuts would add significantly to the US deficit. This is how programs like social security end up on the cutting board.

In addition, most economists indicate that US businesses are in dire need of an increase in legal immigration labor/ workers, but the GOP MAGA isolationist policy which is resistant to increasing even legal immigration would be an impediment to any rules being implemented to suit the needs of American companies.

As per the Hill: “Its new analysis found that a continued surge in net immigration in the 2021-2026 period could help lower the nation’s deficits by $900 billion and revenues could increase by $1.2 trillion, the CBO said, while pointing to its potential impact on individual income and payroll taxes.”

It’s common knowledge that the GOP MAGA ex-president is enamored with autocratic leaders like Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orban, and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and others. 

The historian Timothy Snyder argues that the Trump “strongman’s selling point is a fantasy. In a democracy, elected officials are required to listen to their voters.  American voters take for granted that an elected official owes them something for their votes, support and financial backing. But as soon as the strongman’s power is entrenched where elections become irrelevant like in Russia, then the autocrat owes these same supporters nothing.  He picks winners and losers based on what’s best for him, how much monies he rakes in, how well businesses cater to his whims, no matter how foolish.

As per a Brookings article, it’s no coincidence that pro-Trump regimes tend to be autocracies that fear liberal democracy at home and want to hedge by approaching great powers to protect their interests. These states prefer the type of transactional arrangements that the Trump administration openly advertises. From Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman to Orbán, Aliyev, or Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi—whom Trump affectionately called “my favorite dictator”—middle powers also prefer a world in which democracy isn’t part of the global conversation and they are not lectured on human rights.

Note: This post was last updated on June 25, 2024.