John Goci competes with Donald Trump – how high will the auction go?

By Thoma Gëllçi

There are some things in life a person should not refuse: a coffee, when offered. A dinner, when someone else pays. And five thousand dollars, when promised by the President of the United States.

Donald Trump, at the Republican convention in Dallas, promised that if Republicans win the midterm elections and keep control of Congress, every adult American would receive 5 thousand dollars.

Five thousand dollars is not little. It is enough to make an American forget for a few minutes inflation, the deficit, the public debt and all those things economists usually mention when politicians start handing out money.

Trump has even given it a name: “Trump Dividend.” The name is very important. When you say “1.2 trillion dollars in new federal spending,” people worry. When you say “Trump Dividend,” people start thinking about where they will spend the five thousand dollars, because they are convinced that Trump will not take that money from their taxes, but will take it from his own personal account and give it to the people.

America, unfortunately, does not have 1.2 trillion dollars extra in its safe. On the contrary, the federal debt has passed 40 trillion dollars. But that is an economic detail, and such details always emerge after the rallies are over.

In a normal family, if you are up to your neck in debt and tell your children you will give them five thousand dollars each, they may rejoice. As some voters may rejoice too. But we often forget that in election campaigns all this is called politics. And today’s politics is turning more into an auction.

And Donald Trump has just raised the paddle: Five thousand!

Then from Michigan emerged the Albanian John Goci from Michigan, who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives. He, although not on the ballot at all, continues his “write-in” campaign, which means people must write his name on the ballot instead of voting for the official candidates.

We do not know how seriously Goci takes his proposal. Perhaps very seriously. Perhaps he has done the math. Perhaps he has a plan we do not yet know. But the first impression is that Goci saw Trump’s five thousand dollars and decided to take the idea as far as the logic of an electoral auction goes: Ten thousand!

His poster reads clearly: If John Goci wins, he will propose and Congress will vote to give 10,000 dollars to every adult American. And, intentionally or not, Goci has entered the race of promises with the American president. And from the moment you enter this road, the problem is no longer how much America can pay. Skill is shown by who dares to promise more.

But why ten thousand? Twenty thousand are, without doubt, better than ten thousand. Fifty thousand are even better than twenty thousand. A hundred thousand would be fantastic. And all the more so since you don’t have the money from your own house and it isn’t even in the bank.

From the perspective of the person receiving the money, this is an extraordinary promise.

The difficulties begin only for the person who has to pay it.

Therefore, after Goci, I await the next candidate with interest. He may come out tomorrow and say: I give 20 thousand dollars to every American.

Then another may come with 30 thousand. Another with 50 thousand. And, if the campaign lasts a bit longer, we may arrive at election day with a people of millionaires, at least on the electoral posters.

No one needs to have the money in their pocket to promise it.

In an ordinary auction, when you say “ten thousand!,” you must have the ten thousand dollars. In the political auction anything is allowed. You say “ten thousand!,” the voter rejoices, Congress must approve it and the Treasury must find the money. And if it doesn’t find it, no big deal. The votes that mattered you have taken.

The American debt, over 40 trillion dollars, does not speak at rallies. It does not hold banners. It does not run for office. It does not complain. It only grows.

Perhaps that is why no one worries much about it.

Trump’s five thousand dollars, on the contrary, you can immediately imagine in your bank account.

The forty trillions are too big to imagine. And people, generally, worry more about the five thousand dollars they might receive than about the 40 trillions they owe.

So American politics has entered, it seems, a new phase. Once candidates competed over who would cut taxes, who would cut the deficit, who would create more jobs. Now it is simpler: we promise cash money!

And, if someone asks who will pay for it, the answer can be given after the elections. This is the great advantage of the electoral auction over the ordinary auction. But one question was not being answered by some Americans who were discussing heatedly in a McDonald’s, each with a hamburger in front of them: If this money is somewhere and the American people need it and deserve to receive it as a reward, why not give it to them even if it loses the elections?