Is this why democracy doesn't work?

 Most western democracies are going through turbulent economic times.  Of course, recently we have had the various Trump troubles - tariffs that seem to change on a whim - and wars and unrest that seem to pop up with increasing speed.  But Western woes predate the current Trump era - and even the COVID era, though that did have a significant, negative impact on most economies.

Oner problem is that we learned about our troubles too late to act.  As the situation turned and worsened, we were still reading 'good' figures and positive results.  

This is because many of the indicators used to judge performance are lagging indicators.  They tell us we're in trouble well after the trouble started.  We (the public) were enjoying low inflation, low interest rates and high property prices whilst national productivity was stalling.

The UK is now in a dangerous position whereby we cannot afford new infrastructure that might help catalyse productivity growth. Business confidence is very low - and when it is  low, businesses do not invest - in new capital equipment, and, even in the training snd development of the workforce.

We are experiencing the pain of low growth - and there is almost certainly more pain to come. 

Meanwhile the political parties are arguing about 'peripheral issues' - without productivity growth we cannot afford to increase our defence budget, increase spending on the NHS,  solve the social care problem and make everyone feel warm and cosy again.

Of course, voters don't vote for pain, so we wouldn't vote for a government even if it had the solutions to our current malaise.

This is why democracy is fundamentally flawed.  It works in good times- but not as well in bad times.

Of course I haven't anything better to offer you!