Economic Recovery

[adrian_fekula]

2008 seems an eternity ago, but nonetheless we are still suffering from the same recession which began in that year. Both political parties have brought forward ideas to stimulate the economy, and some of those ideas have succeeded for a time, but eventually, their effects wore off. People in America, and indeed all over the world continue to

Comments

Uncertainty

[russj]

You make a valid point about people not wanting to start new ventures or make big purchases or investments in times of uncertainty. Everyone knows this intuitively. Just look how quickly individuals reduced their borrowing and started saving more, starting in 2008.

This suggests that the government should NOT be 'trying to boost' the economy. Every new regulation, tax, or law that affects the economy creates a changing environment and brings unintended consequences.

It's like trying to play a football game, and the referees keep changing the rules between each play. The government should NOT be playing favorites and changing the rules, but should enforce uniform rules on every player through the entire game.

While creating more regulations and incentives is seen as 'doing SOMETHING' by lawmakers, the media, and the public -- their effect is to slow the economy. The best thing for government to do is to do NOTHING, or else to repeal past incentives and laws.

[underlankers]

Because we have so many examples of the US government not intervening that created prosperity, am I right? We have evidence for these assertions that's more than trite restatement of talking points, am I right?

[adrian_fekula]

Am I to take it that you mean the Bailout, or FDR's New Deal? Sure, the government has done it before. Unfortunately, it takes much more than either of those things for the government to turn the economy around. It requires World War II. It's much better to let the markets sort themselves out.

[underlankers]

Um, no, I was referring to the US Civil War, where the US government deemed ultimately that an entire and very profitable sector of the economy was illegal because the ones that profited most from it started a war and got a lopsided defeat primarily by one badass from Ohio. I was referring to things like the JP Morgan Bailout of the US Government that was a crucial but forgotten element in the Sherman Antitrust Act, Andrew Jackson's abolition of the Second Bank of the United States, and the de-regulation phase of the 1990s.

[russj]