Dr Oliver Hartwich: The end of the golden bargain

Campaign slogans used to sell the future. In 1960, John F. Kennedy promised Americans a ‘New Frontier’. Bill Clinton chose Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Don’t Stop’ as his anthem. Tony Blair swept into Downing Street to D:Ream’s ‘Things Can Only Get Better’. Gerhard Schröder promised Germans he would not do everything differently but many things better.

These were statements of faith: the future would be an improvement on the present, and democratic politics was the vehicle that would take you there.