Will CEOs have to rescue us from the debt challenge?

This election season, both candidates and both parties are ignoring one of the most serious issues we face: the debt problem.

Both parties have also, through their different populist messages, been at odds with some of America’s most powerful CEOs — the same individuals our leaders may one day need assistance from if an urgent debt crisis emerges.

Our annual deficits are approaching $2 trillion, and overall debt is in the range of $30 trillion. Even worse, the trajectory of both deficit and debt shows no sign of improvement. Everyone even slightly tuned in to public policy is aware of this problem. The question is whether there is a pathway to address it before a crisis forces policymakers into action.

It’s obvious why politicians do not want to put forth plans to reduce the debt — it will require tough choices and unpopular decisions. Democrats fear being accused of wanting to raise taxes and gut the military. Republicans who talk about it get accused of wanting to slash Medicare and Social Security. Faced with these political realities, politicians just want to avoid the subject, especially during election season.

Ignoring the problem may spare today’s politicians, but it won’t spare tomorrow’s — and it certainly won’t spare taxpayers or people who rely on government services. The question we face is less what to do than how to get politicians to address the problem before a financial collapse or similar crisis forces their hand.

The answer may come not from politicians, but from some of our nation’s CEOs.

The U.S. has a history of business leaders getting involved to help the nation in times of financial trouble. Over a century ago, financial titan J.P. Morgan helped navigate two financial panics. During Grover Cleveland’s presidency, for example, the U.S. faced a dangerous liquidity crisis. Morgan was none too popular with the politicians of the time, but he saw that he could help.

In February of 1895, he came down from New York to Washington to meet with President Cleveland. Cleveland did not want to see him, but Morgan stayed in Washington regardless and sent a message to the White House: “I have come down to see the president. And I am going to stay here until I see him.” 

Eventually, Cleveland relented, and Morgan’s intervention — via a Morgan-led syndicate that provided the gold that the government needed — helped solve the problem.

Something similar happened in 1907 when Morgan helped rescue the American economy by coming up with a plan to bail out Moore & Schley. Morgan did this despite having poor relations with Teddy Roosevelt, the president at the time. As he did in 1895, Morgan put country above any personal considerations in developing his rescue plan.

Another business leader who tried to help in this circumstance was John D. Rockefeller. He too had poor relations with Roosevelt — who was in the process of trying to break up Rockefeller’s company — but he nonetheless tried to use some of his wealth to prop up the stock market during that 1907 panic.

Despite Rockefeller’s rapacious reputation, trying to help the nation in times of need was a recurring impulse. During World War I, he stood strongly by President Woodrow Wilson, despite being in opposing political parties. He also donated over $70 million to the war effort, which was noted not only in the U.S. but in France as well, where there was a street named after him.

In the opening stages of the Great Depression, Rockefeller tried to help the economy both financially and rhetorically. He once again tried to prop up the stock market after the 1929 stock market crash, along with other business leaders like Charles Schwab and Henry Ford. This effort actually did succeed for a time in stabilizing prices.

Rockefeller also tried to boost morale, declaring in 1932, “These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again.”

While these efforts date back nearly a century or more, there have been more recent efforts as well. Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase stepped up to help during the 2008 financial crisis. He participated in the government bailout, even though his firm was on decent footing, sending a signal to others that it was okay to participate.

With our massive debt obligations and the potential for a future financial crisis, some current-day CEOs may have to follow the example of Dimon, Rockefeller or Morgan to help the nation in a time of need.

Tevi Troy is a visiting fellow at the Mercatus Center and a former White House aide. He is the author of five books on the presidency, including the just-released “The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry.”