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blue bits. red rocks.
Friday 25 September 2009

The provocative conclusion of this analysis is that people cannot be said to “own” what they earn before taxes, because those taxes support a government that is essential to their very ability to own anything at all. This does not, however, mean that it is the government that owns what people earn, either. In fact, the key point is that there is no “it” when we talk about what we would own in the absence of government. Government is necessary if we are even to have a modern economy. So is private initiative. Imagining one without the other is a meaningless exercise. We should, therefore, stop denigrating government as if it were the enemy of progress and prosperity. It is not possible to have a capitalist economy that is not a government-run economy in a truly basic sense. Those who propose to change the way the institutions of government interact in the economy are not “pro-government” or “anti-government.” Rather, we are simply aware that people’s creativity can be turned into commercial prosperity only with a set of rules created and enforced by governments. The job is not to increase or decrease government’s role in the economy, but to improve it. Stop Denigrating Government: There is No Economy Without It

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