For an antidote to the interventionist Atlantic Monthly, see this open letter signed by a number of conservative economists.
As a rule, government cannot create wealth or expand the economy. Only the private sector can do that. Government can, however, hinder economic growth through excessive taxes, high marginal tax rates, over-regulation, or unnecessary spending. Accordingly, elected leaders should be working to adopt measures that curb or halt government policies that are hurting the economy.
One of the signatories, Milton Friedman, also recently wrote,
I believe that government is too large and intrusive, that we do not get our money’s worth for the roughly 40% of our income that is spent by government–federal, state and local–supposedly on our behalf, or the additional 10% or so of income that residents or businesses spend in response to government mandates and regulation.
READER COMMENTS
David Thomson
Feb 1 2003 at 12:01pm
James Fallows’ New America Foundation can do a lot of good if it truly desires to engage in dialogue. The concern is that this group of Neo-Liberal intellectuals might limit their discussions to who already agree with them. After all, their idea of a real Republican is Michael Lind! This is not at all encouraging.
Comments are closed.