Libercontrarian

Crushed between the wheels of capitalism and big government.

So what is government's role?

You have heard me rail against big government. You know of my mild paranoia with regard to its growth and intrusiveness, and I have complained about its desire to involve itself in the workplace, in daily affairs of individual citizens, and every two weeks with your paycheck. So what is its role? Does the Federal system merely exist to pave large, limited-access highways, check foreign aggression against our land and our citizens, and prevent kidnappers from crossing state lines?

I believe that there are more things that the government, and not any other entity, can do to keep the republic humming along and her citizens safe. Only the government, not market pressures, brought the automakers (who have been large multinationals since the 1920's) to heel with regards to clean air standards, mileage requirements, and safety innovations. Nobody, not even consumers, could have done this. What private enterprise would have risen to check Japanese, German, Soviet, and Islamofascist aggression? None, of course.

The good works that have been created with regulation of powerful corporations and the successful defense of our homeland have produced many unintended, undesirable consequences. Industries are fleeing our shores in pursuit of less expensive labor and less intrusive regulation. Those that remain are retail-oriented, low growth, and they cycle the money that they make far fewer times before it heads back to the bank in the form of profits. I sense that over-regulation is causing a large market shift that will be seen over the course of the next ten years, especially as the Chinese become more capable manufacturers of all things.

What do you do about it? Invent new industries, I guess. Unfortunately, the new industries are almost always retail-sector oriented - take eBay, for instance. It's growth is phenomenal, but I suspect that the ratio of the contribution to the U.S. economy will be tiny in comparison with traditional industries, if only because the end consumer becomes the second to last holder of profit, since many vendors on eBay are individuals, not corporations.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 27, 2004 09:43 | link | comments |

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