IN the fairy tale, courtiers persuade the emperor to parade naked through the streets because he is supposedly robed in new clothes made of a cloth which appears invisible to people unworthy of their office. It is left to a guileless child to see through the confidence trick.
We live in a democracy. There is careful scrutiny of every public decision. So, the confidence trick needs to be that bit more subtle. It need not even be a conscious trick, but may instead be motivated by genuine belief. And it may take years for the trick to be revealed.
During the 1992 US presidential election, James Carville, in managing Bill Clinton’s campaign kept on reminding his candidate: “It’s the economy.”