The Free Market: Chaotic, Brilliant, And Unstoppable

There's a reason it's called a "free" market. People cooperate...freely. Their industry grows economies, which gives us more wealth, thus free time. Specialization takes advantage of our infinite variety of skills, which maximizes the talents of everyone. And all of this drives innovation, which drives more wealth generation!

It's a marvelous system, and can only be limited by the hand of Man, via government control. But even there it is impossible to stop completely. Even in the depths of the Soviet Union's destruction of humanity, pockets of free markets existed. Mao couldn't stamp out our innate desire to better ourselves. Pol Pot sure did try, but he failed. Kim Il Sung and his psychotic spawn are doing a good job of tamping down human innovation, but a few hundred lamp posts decorated with North Korea's leadership could fix that in a hurry.

Is there anywhere on the planet that has more of an entrepreneurial spirit than America? Even with our ridiculous government interference in almost all facets of business, we manage to create pretty much everything anyone can imagine, and we do it quicker and better than most. And we have the advantage over the few other truly entrepreneurial countries (parts of eastern Europe, Israel, Australia maybe, and uh....who else?) because we have a manufacturing juggernaut that extends across multiple industries. Sure, there are some countries that shine in a few areas, but for sheer breadth, America is unrivaled.

Sometimes it is difficult to see that spirit, as we are bombarded by government sloth, environmental warfare, political machinations, and pure selfishness in the well-established NIMBY movement. But it is there, and simply getting out of our way, as the Trump administration is trying to do, will do wonders for our economy and our society.

Obviously the Leviathan is not going away, and the degree of interference in our economy is far too much, but compared to other countries we are doing great, and our relatively benign regulatory state, coupled with American Exceptionalism, is a recipe for great things.

Is there a Great Reset in the works, as Americans are unleashed, and once again lap the world in the economic miracle that is free markets? Oh, sure...tariffs do not free markets make, but they are far freer than what we had before, which was nothing more than the looting of our country. But whatever you call them: fair markets or mercantilism, they are dependent on the freedom of the individual to act in his own best interest...Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand!"

Tariffs wouldn't work if we didn't have the capacity to take advantage of the opportunity to manufacture domestically. That stake in Intel would be worthless if Intel didn't have the American engine of growth and innovation behind it (and it's still iffy!). All of those government investments (loans? Grants?) in rare-earth mining and production would amount to nothing if America didn't have the natural resources and the technological know-how to break the Chinese stranglehold on those essential materials.

I would prefer less government investment and much, much less government regulation. That would save us money and time. But destroying the deep state, the regulatory structure, and the environmental/political lawfare system will take time.

Hopefully President Vance will get it done by 2037, when President Sanders takes office!

posted by CBD at 12:00 PM

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