We must unleash the power of the free market if we wish to save America. I have a reasonable plan of action, but to undertake such a plan will be fought tooth-and-nail by corporate special interests, crony capitalists, and the regulatory monster embedded in the Federal Government.
A Personal Perspective
I do not equate the free market system with capitalism. To me, they are two different entities. I view the free market as comprising all the small businesses trying to survive in today’s America: restaurants, barbershops, dry cleaners, nail salons, and so many others. Sadly, the free market is now on life support because of the inane policies enacted over the last two years by politicians and the administrative state over the last 100 years.
Capitalism has become essentially crony capitalism. The Federal Government has opted for its “too big to fail” policy and in choosing winners, instead of letting the free market do that.
The administrative state restricts the free market far beyond what is reasonable and necessary for the safety and health of the American people. That has become ever more clear over the last two years.
The Free Market In A Nutshell
The free market is wide, very deep, and extremely diverse. It ranges from small tech start-ups and mom-and-pop operations all the way to small and medium-sized companies of, say, 150 employees. The free market does not include the behemoths at the top of the food chain. Those companies have been corrupted and no longer operate in accordance with the principles of the free market: unfettered competition and ease of access.
Socialism In A Nutshell
Socialism has never worked in the past and it will not work in the future, and that is not the result of poor implementation. It is because of structural problems that inhere in the system that are impossible to resolve. Two of the problems are price discovery and resource allocation.
We have no large data collection systems (Big Data) today that can gather the data, analyze it, and make decisions based on that analysis. No system can replace the billions, and perhaps trillions, of decisions made every day by the almost 8 billion people on the planet.
A Call To Action
My action plan comprises five steps. There are probably other priorities as well, but these five are a reasonable start.
1. Grow the economy rapidly. Job creation is Job#1. The Federal Government and its politicians and administrative staff have no understanding of what it takes to grow the economy. Everything the government does has a negative effect. Entrepreneurs, innovators, and benefactors are the creative element in America; America is still the most innovative and creative country in the world. This creative element should be lauded and praised, not demonized. The government, at all levels, should just get out of the way and let the free market work its magic.
2. Restore the middle class to its rightful role in American civic affairs. The middle class is the foundation of all civilized and productive societies.
3. Devolve political power to the lowest possible political entity in every state. Cities, counties, and townships know far better what is needed at their level than do state and federal governments.
4. Downsize the Federal Government and limit its power to those functions that should be centralized. National defense, border security, and immigration policy come readily to mind. There are other functions that lend themselves to centralization as well, and these are easily determined based on logic and common sense.
5. Review all Federal and State regulations and determine if they are necessary or overly cumbersome and restrictive. If regulations cannot be justified using a realistic cost/benefit analysis, they should be eliminated.
*Explanatory Note
I had to restore my website to a prior date because of technical problems. I lost some posts as a result.
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Cordial regards,
Andrew J Guinosso
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