‘Pessimism abounds’ in the nation

Job woes: Youth unemployment is one of the worries that is keeping Malaysians up at night, according to a survey. — Filepic

IT’S the perut economy, stupid. To rephrase American political strategist James Carville’s famous campaign message, that’s Emir Research president and CEO Datuk Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff’s advice to the Pakatan Harapan government.

The phrase “The economy, stupid” was coined by Carville, the election guru behind Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign against incumbent George HW Bush. It was on a sign hung on the wall in the Clinton war room in Little Rock, Arkansas, as one of the messages for campaign workers to focus on. It is usually mistakenly rendered as “It’s the economy, stupid”.