Rich is right to point out that Kamala Harris is not an investor. It’s funny that a political party that vilifies finance thinks it is helpful to constantly talk about “investment.” Biden does it too, with a whole White House Web page on “Investing in America.”

What politicians do is not investment. All politicians can do is redistribute. All money that they disburse is taken from others. The most direct way is through taxation. Printing more money creates the silent tax of inflation. Government borrowing crowds out real investment by private individuals and firms in the present and is equivalent to taxation in the future.

Real investor David Bahnsen had this to say about Harris’s comments:

Imagine if politicians, when they talk about “investing” taxpayer money, were held to the fiduciary standards that investors are held to. Basically all of them would be in prison.

If Bahnsen tells his clients one thing to earn their business and then does something else with their money once he has it, he would be guilty of fraud. If politicians tell voters one thing to win their votes and then do something else with their money when in office, . . . well, that’s just what politicians do.

If Bahnsen lies about the rate of return to his clients, or manages his clients’ money in such a way that they do not get the highest return possible, he would be charged with crimes. If politicians lie about the effects of government programs to voters, or manage taxpayer money in such a way that it is wasted on stuff that doesn’t work, . . . well, that’s how they win elections.

Politicians should not want the pressures and responsibilities that come with investing. Those are standards that they can’t meet given the way they spend taxpayer money. And if they did meet them, they’d be thrown out of office.