G’Day!
Yes, Free Market Capitalism IS the answer to our economic malaise. America is the country of equal opportunity (not equal income) and self-improvement through economic and social mobility, not stagnation, stratification, and redistribution of other people’s money. Capitalism is founded on growth, innovation, unlimited production, and decentralized decision-making through free market pricing. Capitalism properly allocates our economic resources as citizens’ wish (not the government), rewards creativity, and expands the wealth “Pie” for all to share based on effort and contribution. Socialism is founded on personal immobility, government control of production through central planning, and price controls. Socialism predetermines and distorts proper allocation of goods and services as the government wishes (not the citizens), restricts innovation, and redistributes the existing wealth “Pie” based on arbitrary administrative decisions of the government “elite”.
While no system is perfect in all respects, history has proven that Free Market Capitalism works best for maximizing economic growth and prosperity and improving living standards. History has also shown that Socialism does not work and over time retards economic growth and prosperity, and produces a lower standard of living. The demise of communist Russia, China under Mao, and the current European Union fiscal and debt crises are recent examples of the failures of Socialism and central planning. Our government should realize that it cannot tax and spend America into prosperity. Only growth in the private sector can create long-term prosperity and new jobs for our nation. The government should get out of the way, reduce regulations, shrink spending and entitlements, reform personal and business taxes, and let the innovative forces of Free Market Capitalism work.
Our current socialist-oriented, anti-business government has assaulted and discouraged innovative opportunities by enacting legislation and imposing regulations that restrict our ability to engage domestically in creative and profitable endeavors. These policies, including taxation, have stifled domestic investment, encouraged companies to create new jobs offshore, and suppressed the economic growth for which our nation is famous. If Obama’s policies continue and he is reelected, the “Middle Class” will suffer most from the continuing consequences of our economic stagnation. The current “Middle Class” will increasingly join America’s “Dependent Class” who rely on government handouts that sustain and maintain lower living standards. Is this the future you want for our nation and your children?
The factors that have made our country great and the envy of the world are the equal opportunities to improve ourselves through personal hard work, innovation, risk-taking, and thrift. To grow and prosper as our nation has historically done, we need to return to our foundations and encourage entrepreneurial opportunities for wealth creation based on individual freedoms, free markets, private property ownership, and limited government. We don’t need a handout; we want a hand up. Without government support and encouragement for vibrant and profitable financial and business sectors, our economy will continue to underperform. This will result in less, if any, economic growth; less, if any, wealth to redistribute; and fewer, if any, new jobs. Wealth is not created by attacking the institutions and individuals who create it. The choice for the future of our country will be ours at the 2012 election. Vote wisely.
The Old Guy PhD