Pop Quiz:
What President said: “Capitalism works better than it sounds, while socialism sounds better than it works.”?
What satirist said: “If we want the whole world to be rich, we need to start loving wealth. In the difference between poverty and plenty, the problem is the poverty, not the difference. Wealth is good.”?
What economist said: “So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear. That there is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.”?
What President said: “Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise.”?
What politician said: “We must win the war on poverty by enlisting the greatest weapon ever invented – free enterprise”?
What President said: “Extreme taxation, excessive controls, oppressive government competition with business, frustrated minorities and forgotten Americans are not the products of free enterprise. They are the residue of centralized bureaucracy, of government by a self-anointed elite.”?
Answers at the end of the posst.
The typical elected official in the United States knows more about the practice of Zoroastrianism than economics. The evidence is all around us. AOC has a degree “with honors” in economics yet she often confuses Milton Keynes and John Maynard Friedman. Gavin Gruesome, governor of the 4th largest economy in the world, flunked the SATs and has a degree in political science. Gretchen Whitmer majored in communications at Michigan State along with 72% of the scholarship athletes…apologies to the athletes for the comparison. Abigail Spanberger majored in French and Literature. Kathy Hochul is begging the states fleeing millionaires to return to New York so she can tax them to pay for her social programs.
Yet these mental Munchkins have one thing in common…they all embrace the practice of the failed policies of socialism/communism with near religious fervor. Hochul the mendicant is trying desperately to deal with the results of her dirigistic policies. Remember the definition of insanity: Doing the same dumb thing over and over again and expecting a different result. They are also victims of what Frederick Douglass referred to as “the fatal poison of irresponsible power”.
As Margaret Thatcher said: “Socialism works until you run out of other people’s money.”
The bete noire of the Democratic Party is “capitalism” which they are turning into a four letter word. They are opposed to the concept of free enterprise and they are motivated by pure greed. They want to control the ever growing economic treasure chest that cries out for more “equitable” management and they are happy to live off the vigorish.
The question they cannot answer is: How did this cornucopia of wealth come to pass?
Economics is derogatorily referred to as the dismal science. The study of economics is a relatively modern development. It began with such men as Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo and expanded under Ludwig von Mises, Thorstein Veblen and Milton Friedman.
There have been four phases of economic development:
- 1150-1450 municipal mercantilism;
- 1450-1815 state mercantilism;
- 1815-1934 laissez-faire with automatic controls; and,
- 1934 to present conscious, i.e. government control.
Mercantilism is an economic system that is based on maximizing exports and minimizing imports. The exporting entity then secures the “profit” in the form of precious metals. Spain used their entire colonialization of the West to acquire vast quantities of gold and silver. As a result their domestic economy atrophied and as their colonial empire dwindled Spain ceased to be an international power.
Tariffs were an integral part of the mercantilist playbook. High tariffs protected domestic industry and as late as 1910 tariffs accounted for 50% of the US government revenues. Over history tariffs have become a political tool used to reward or punish the international trade community. It has been argued that the use of tariffs to protect Northern industries was a proximate cause of the American Civil War.
The US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was $1.3 billion in 1865. After the War ended the US went into a long period of unbridled free enterprise and by 1920 the GDP had grown to $687 billion. The 1920s, the Roaring 20s, saw the GDP grow by an astounding 42%…to $937 billion. It should be noted that the 1920s were the last period of true free enterprise.
Alas, in 1929 the economy became the victim of the Creature of Jekyll Island. The government induced Great Depression brought economic growth to a grinding halt and triggered the transition from more than 100 years of automatic controls to the stillborn conscious controls of FDR, Harry Hopkins and John Maynard Keynes. These conscious controls brought with them a corresponding loss of individual freedom for all Americans not emplyed in Washington.
That our GDP has continued to grow by leaps and bounds is testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people. Despite the shackles forged by parasitical bureaucrats and power hungry political mediocrities we have continued our ongoing economic miracle.
Do we really want to turn this country over to the Democratic Socialist stylings of Mamdani, Talarico, Al-Sayed and Bernie Sanders? These are people who have resumes devoid of any meaningful accomplishment, have been educated far beyond their intelligence and are intent on rending the social fabric of America.
Embrace the roots of our Republic and appreciate all that we have done to make the world a better place. The next few posts will try to put the American Dream in context such that we can confront those who would destroy us to feed their vanity and envy.
Answers to the pop quiz:
What President said: “Capitalism works better than it sounds, while socialism sounds better than it works.”? Tricky Dick Nixon
What satirist said: “If we want the whole world to be rich, we need to start loving wealth. In the difference between poverty and plenty, the problem is the poverty, not the difference. Wealth is good.”? P. J. O’Rourke
What economist said: “So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear. That there is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.”? Milton Friedman or is it John Maynard Friedman…AOC call your office
What President said: “Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise.”?
What politician said: “We must win the war on poverty by enlisting the greatest weapon ever invented – free enterprise”?
What President said: “Extreme taxation, excessive controls, oppressive government competition with business, frustrated minorities and forgotten Americans are not the products of free enterprise. They are the residue of centralized bureaucracy, of government by a self-anointed elite.”? Nancy Reagan’s husband