Saturday, July 28, 2012

The Science of Fixing the American Economy



        Unemployment rates continue to rise and more people are applying for first-time unemployment benefits each week. Our country has reached the point where inflation has devalued the American dollar to the point where most people struggle just to reach ends meet. People are buying less, driving less, donating less, and still spending the same amount of money. People are no longer getting the same “bang for the buck” that they were in years past.
        The Government believes that it can fix the economy through artificial stimulation. On paper the idea sounds plausible but we soon realized that it would fail. The Stimulus Package in 2009 proved to be nothing more than a 787 billion dollar waste. It was supposed to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and get the American economy back on the right track. As we all know, it did no such things.   
        This is not the first time that lavish Government spending has failed to save the American economy. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s failed in the exact same way as the Stimulus Package. The New Deal cost approximately 32 billion dollars, which is equivalent roughly 500 billion dollars right now once inflation is factored in. The New Deal did not get us out of the Great Depression; World War II is what revitalized the American economy.
        The onset of WWII called for mass production of tanks, airplanes, vehicles, weapons, ammunition, clothing, food, and just about anything else one can think of. These were all amenities that we and our allies needed to fight the war. Companies such are Ford and Chrysler saw the opportunity to make a profit and as a result, took on Government contracts to begin producing needed goods. Chrysler alone produces over 18,000 B-29 engines as well as 500,000 military trucks.
        Capitalism and the Profit Motive is what saved the American economy, not Government intervention.
        Now I’m not at all saying that we need to start a war, although I’m sure there are indeed many people who would have no objection to that. The Government needs to let Capitalism take over. If an entrepreneur recognizes the opportunity to make a profit, he/she will seize it.
        Our Government wants to punish small businesses by taxing them more. They want to hurt the businesses that employ the most people in this country. By taking money from the employer, the employees are directly affected. Salaries and benefits have to be cut in order to cover company overhead.
        It time that the Government leave American businesses alone and let Capitalism run its course.  
        I believe that the best way to do this is through drilling for oil and natural gas, both on and off-shore. It would create jobs for the people who work on the oil rig/field itself, as well as bringing new infrastructure to an area. Housing needs for the workers would create construction jobs, restaurants and stores would quickly develop to cater to the other needs of the workers, and pipelines would need to be built to transfer the oil. Entirely new towns could develop.
        Drilling for oil would create more jobs than any other venture would. It would also help greatly to reduce the price of gas here. People in turn would have more money to spend. Tourism would increase and money would begin to flow through the hands of American business owners. Capitalism is what has made this country as great as it is. America is the land of opportunity, and it’s time for the Government to give the opportunity back to the people.
Government is the problem; Capitalism is the answer.