Conservative US Federal Fiscal Policy in the 21st Century: Competing Ideologies and Consequences

The year 2000 brought upon the American public satisfaction and anxiety simultaneously. After a decade of real fiscal prosperity resulting from the Reagan Revolution and the internet and housing market bubbles under Bill Clinton, uncertainty over lacking financial securities was high. The election of George W. Bush to the presidency at first offered hope for a potential return to more traditional, stable financial markets, but with challenges from perceived Y2K computer bugs, repercussions to world financial markets due to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and the resultant Great Recession, neo-conservativism was losing support from the American electorate for their fiscal policies while losing key elections. Bush’s bailout of the mortgage industry and the devasting effects of Obama’s CARS Act on the American auto industry left voters to look elsewhere. Mitt Romney offered elitism and documented crony capitalism. After his election defeat to an incumbent Barack Obama, Republicans found a successful populist candidate whose fiscal policies offered real potential for change. This paper aims to give a critical evaluation and historical context of federal fiscal policies and proposals during the early 21st century, focusing on the ideologies, policies, and extra-governmental involvements of neo-con Senator Mitt Romney and the bold strategies employed by populist Donald J. Trump. A survey of the collaboration between federal government policies and elite cronies, the accomplishments of the Trump tariffs, and an evaluation of these policies based on Biblical Worldview are offered. Tapping into rational choice theory, an analytic narrative will be employed to determine the effectiveness of the policies of these US Executives and responsible agents within the federal government under the guidance of normative decision theory.