Editor's note: Ken Moak taught economic theory, public policy and globalization at the university level for 33 years. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Whoever wins the White House in November will face the Herculean task of fixing the messy U.S. economy, polity and society. The U.S. economic woes created by the 2008 financial crisis have been made worse by President Donald Trump's trade and technology wars and his mishandling of the COVD-19 pandemic. Partisan bickering has resulted in a dysfunctional Congress in which nothing gets done, and Trump's populist postures led to the rise of political polarization and a surge of left-wing and right-wing groups. The president's blame games and popularized racism have created a divided country along racial lines, endangering public safety and destabilizing society.

First on the economy, reversing the sinking economy will not be easy because of a lack of fiscal and monetary muscle. The government debt to GDP ratio is about 105 percent, suggesting the government could not mount huge and effective stimulus packages for post-COVID-19 economic recovery. Lending interest rates oscillating between 0 percent and 0.25 percent, suggesting gloomy economic outlook are causing investors and consumers to hoard rather than spend money.

The case in point is shown by U.S. Federal Reserve's massive quantitative easing of dollars saved rather than spent. What's more, most of the "stimulus" money ended in the pockets of the corporations and wealthy Americans. Instead of investing the money, businesses withheld investment due to insufficient or lack of consumer spending.

Adding to the difficulty of economic recovery is the distorted federal government budget that overspends on national defense and underfunds socio-economic enhancing programs. Underfunding education and healthcare services, for example, has eroded the quality and health of the labor force, thereby decreasing productivity and competitiveness, undermining economic growth. Overspending on national defense, on the other hand, is not only a waste of money to benefit the well-organized few. The weapons produced are largely for show, ending up in scrap yards across the country.

The misallocation of funds will likely continue because the military-industrial complex (made up of weapons producers and the lobbyists recruited from former senior government and military officials) donate hundreds of millions of dollars to politicians' campaign funds, including those of powerful decision-makers in the Congress who are sitting on defense and security related committees.

The U.S.' money politics will not go away anytime soon, regardless of whether it is Trump or Biden that wins the White House. Elections in the U.S. are big business, requiring candidates to spend billions of dollars on media and other means to spread their message, thus forcing politicians to do the donors' bidding.

The military-industrial complex also buys an insurance policy to protect its interests, spreading weapons development and production facilities across the country, owning news outlets and funding think tanks. This is to influence public opinion in its favor. The bigger the budget is, the greater the employment prospects are, which is why lawmakers like Macro Rubio are being re-elected for defending the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment of the right to bear arms and pushing China as America's "biggest existential threat."

With regard to American politics, it is more divided under Trump than at any other time in recent memory because of his populist stances. The president's "America First" policy has pushed nationalism to the hilt, bringing out far-right and far-left politics to the forefront. Far-right activists came out in droves to support Trump's anti-immigration policies or "building the wall" along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out "undesirables." The "liberal" or far-left activists responded with counter protests against what they referred to as inhumane treatment of refugees or migrants.

The next president will have his hands full to uniting the country's political divide. If Trump wins, to placate his base support, Trump might have no choice but to continue with his populist and protectionist policies which will likely cause massive protests from leftist or liberal groups. If Biden wins the presidency, he is highly likely to reverse some of Trump's "America First" policies, far-right groups would likely come out to protest against what they call "selling out America" policies.

A divided America has opened Pandora's Box, unleashing far-right white supremacists and the far-left Antifa movement and destabilizing society. Far-right groups like the Proud Boys were said to be ready to defend Trump's presidency, responding to his "stand back and standby" order in the first presidential debate.

Many analysts interpreted Trump's words as approval of civil disobedience or violence if he loses the election. This speculation gains some currency because the president denounced mail-in ballots could be subjected to "cheating" and would not committee to a peaceful transfer of power.

But if the president wins reelection, the leftist groups would likely come out massively to protest against him because he might not be able or willing to denounce white supremacist groups. Indeed, it was Trump's mishandling of George Floyd's death at the hands of a white police officer and of other anti-racist protests that energized the Black Life Matter movement and black militia groups ready and willing to fight for their rights.

Yes, whoever wins the White House will encounter a Herculean task in governing a broken America, a situation has been in the making for many years but exacerbated under the Trump presidency.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)