April 16, 2012
A Brief: The State Of Capitalism In The United States Of America
I want to make one point very clear, there has never been a “free market” in the United States. If lobbyists can descend on Washington to sway congress to shape legislation in favor of their clients (corporations) then there is nothing free about the marketplace of capitalism in this country. A free market would mean no oversight, no favors, and no regulations. I’m not saying that would be desirable, I’m simply pointing out a fact that gets overlooked when people talk about the free market. They are talking about something that doesn’t exist.
• • •
A balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been floated before. Let me state emphatically that it’s a stupid idea. I’m all for conscientious spending of tax dollars but a balanced budget amendment means that in a time of national emergency (natural or man-made disaster) we could not spend the money required to address the emergency at hand unless we could balance the books in the process. But if there is one silver lining, we wouldn’t have had the two wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) had there been a balanced budget amendment at the time.