Ad Infinitem ex Nihilo
A little over a week ago, President Obama, in remarks in Roanoake, Virginia, had a soundbite that said "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that." Romney, and the rest of the Republican field, immediately pounced on this as Obama being out of touch with the role of government in business and misunderstanding how businesses work in America. They jumped on it combined with tax policy to point how Obama wants businesses to fail in the US and how it is his fault that the unemployment rate is over 8 percent. It is also being used as a clear line in the sand between the Democrats and Republicans, with the hope of Republicans winning over a few independents. It's becoming a debate on the nature and role of government, which is one of the most basic, fundamental yet high-level, abstract debates people can have about modern government. Obama has done little to defend the mistakes of the quote, merely to defend the ideas that the entire speech put forth. The president has long been saddled with the title of socialist, even if he is not that. However, that had been the line of demarcation many to the right of him have used to distinguish themselves from him, even if they agree on a lot of issues. However, it does get to that key issues of how much government do we want in our lives, how much government do we need in our lives and what role can government play in some of the abstract functions of our lives.
The full text of the Obama speech can be found here. The fifth and sixth paragraph contain the relevant portions that had been sampled ad nauseam by the Romney campaign and the GOP in general. The basic principle of the quote, which was badly written, was a pretty basic one: no one in our modern society exists in a vacuum and everything is build by using the resources we tend to share. There are some things that government does better than the private sector, and for those things, we need taxes and people need to pay those taxes. The point the president seemed to be trying to make was that many of the things that are needed to start a small business, or any kind of business, are paid for by government. There are even transparent things or things that many businesses take for granted that are paid for or run by government. His point, again I'm assuming, is that we need to start paying attention to these systems that are taken for granted and understand the fullness of the role of government. There is an interconnectedness that political theorists have talked about for generations but many people in the business world don't give a damn about. After all, business needs government to run and it goes without saying that government needs businesses to succeed so that government can keep going.
Businesses do spring up out of nothing. First of all, you need a person with an idea and drive to make a business work. Odds are, this person was born, but we'll assume it was in a private hospital, with private doctors and private everything else. Except of course, that hospital gets water from the government, funding for some capital expenses and laws that allow their operatives to break some traffic laws when they need to. Let's assume this person grows up and goes to school. Again, let's assume a private school. But can we assume every teacher, administrator or staff member of that school went to private school? If not, then that means the public sector paid for that person's skillset that this businesschild is now benefiting from. Let's assume he's not taking public buses to get to school. Let's assume he's being driven to school. Roads are paid for and maintained by public funds, but there are private roads, so this kid might be taking those. However, that car is regulated by safety laws and regulations that are written by government. These things save lives, and while many libertarians are against such things, people like them. But, let's move this guy ahead a few years. So he's getting ready to start his business. Say he needs a loan. That loan is made by a bank which in turn is guaranteed by the FDIC, a part of the government. This means the bank won't disappear, and with it his ownership of the land or physical plant he bought with the loan. Also, if he gets people working for him, these people might have gone to public schools. He also has cops to help guarantee that people won't rob the place. He could try self-defense and private security, so let's leave that one out. Of course, if they actually catch someone or do something, they'll likely end up having to face a court, which is not private.
There are some things that you need government to do, like criminal courts. Even military defense can be left to mercenaries like Blackwater/Xe/Academi, and private law enforcement officers can make arrests and all that, but for courts, there needs to be just one, and that government. The flip side of that is there are somethings that government should not be messing with, like say the consumer electronics market. We don't need or even want a government run store as the only place you can buy cheap electronics. Other than the luddite concerns, an iPod is not inherently dangerous, a threat to public safety or anything else the government should really concern itself with, other than helping to make sure people aren't getting sold something wrong, to help prosecute people who steal, and to charge a little for each transaction for the upkeep of the first two things. Again, those are bare minimums. So, that leaves a whole lot of stuff in between. Schools can be either, roads can be either, but have a much better history of being run by the government. Fire departments can be private, but have a history of not putting out fires unless it affects a customer, leading to deaths and destruction of poorer areas. Private, non-profit groups do better with museums, governments with libraries.
That really is the problem. It's not there is one singular way for everything to be run; there's not. Some things need to be entirely run by the government in order to function and some things need as little government intrusion as possible, and everything needs some degree or another. There are plenty of private schools, but they need to meet certain minimums. There are almost no food service places that are run entirely by the government, but all food service places have a license and standards. We want transactions to be honest, but we need a third party broker to do that. Government can be good for that, so long as they really are an uninterested party. So, there are many roles for the government to play, and all of them help create an overall environment where businesses can grow. So while the entrepreneur makes his business happen through hard work, luck, sweat, luck and perseverance, there is another factor at work taking care of all the little so he doesn't have to, that is the government. He doesn't ALWAYS have to hire private security since there are cops around. He doesn't have to worry that if he leaves at night someone will steal his stuff since we have respect for property in our laws. Roads to and from his place of business will be taken care of, no foreign nations will invade, bank transactions will be honored (check out banking of the 1800s if you think just because a bank does one thing, all the other banks will honor it) and there will be a sense of domestic tranquility.
Which is what the founding fathers wanted all along.
So it is written, so do I see it.
PS I have nothing insightful at this time to write about the mass shooting in Colorado my thoughts and well wishes go out to the families of that tragedy
I also have nothing to say about Penn State getting hit with massive penalties from the NCAA. Mostly because fanatics in the realm are taking up too much oxygen and I'm hoping they get bored and wander off so the adults can talk.
The full text of the Obama speech can be found here. The fifth and sixth paragraph contain the relevant portions that had been sampled ad nauseam by the Romney campaign and the GOP in general. The basic principle of the quote, which was badly written, was a pretty basic one: no one in our modern society exists in a vacuum and everything is build by using the resources we tend to share. There are some things that government does better than the private sector, and for those things, we need taxes and people need to pay those taxes. The point the president seemed to be trying to make was that many of the things that are needed to start a small business, or any kind of business, are paid for by government. There are even transparent things or things that many businesses take for granted that are paid for or run by government. His point, again I'm assuming, is that we need to start paying attention to these systems that are taken for granted and understand the fullness of the role of government. There is an interconnectedness that political theorists have talked about for generations but many people in the business world don't give a damn about. After all, business needs government to run and it goes without saying that government needs businesses to succeed so that government can keep going.
Businesses do spring up out of nothing. First of all, you need a person with an idea and drive to make a business work. Odds are, this person was born, but we'll assume it was in a private hospital, with private doctors and private everything else. Except of course, that hospital gets water from the government, funding for some capital expenses and laws that allow their operatives to break some traffic laws when they need to. Let's assume this person grows up and goes to school. Again, let's assume a private school. But can we assume every teacher, administrator or staff member of that school went to private school? If not, then that means the public sector paid for that person's skillset that this businesschild is now benefiting from. Let's assume he's not taking public buses to get to school. Let's assume he's being driven to school. Roads are paid for and maintained by public funds, but there are private roads, so this kid might be taking those. However, that car is regulated by safety laws and regulations that are written by government. These things save lives, and while many libertarians are against such things, people like them. But, let's move this guy ahead a few years. So he's getting ready to start his business. Say he needs a loan. That loan is made by a bank which in turn is guaranteed by the FDIC, a part of the government. This means the bank won't disappear, and with it his ownership of the land or physical plant he bought with the loan. Also, if he gets people working for him, these people might have gone to public schools. He also has cops to help guarantee that people won't rob the place. He could try self-defense and private security, so let's leave that one out. Of course, if they actually catch someone or do something, they'll likely end up having to face a court, which is not private.
There are some things that you need government to do, like criminal courts. Even military defense can be left to mercenaries like Blackwater/Xe/Academi, and private law enforcement officers can make arrests and all that, but for courts, there needs to be just one, and that government. The flip side of that is there are somethings that government should not be messing with, like say the consumer electronics market. We don't need or even want a government run store as the only place you can buy cheap electronics. Other than the luddite concerns, an iPod is not inherently dangerous, a threat to public safety or anything else the government should really concern itself with, other than helping to make sure people aren't getting sold something wrong, to help prosecute people who steal, and to charge a little for each transaction for the upkeep of the first two things. Again, those are bare minimums. So, that leaves a whole lot of stuff in between. Schools can be either, roads can be either, but have a much better history of being run by the government. Fire departments can be private, but have a history of not putting out fires unless it affects a customer, leading to deaths and destruction of poorer areas. Private, non-profit groups do better with museums, governments with libraries.
That really is the problem. It's not there is one singular way for everything to be run; there's not. Some things need to be entirely run by the government in order to function and some things need as little government intrusion as possible, and everything needs some degree or another. There are plenty of private schools, but they need to meet certain minimums. There are almost no food service places that are run entirely by the government, but all food service places have a license and standards. We want transactions to be honest, but we need a third party broker to do that. Government can be good for that, so long as they really are an uninterested party. So, there are many roles for the government to play, and all of them help create an overall environment where businesses can grow. So while the entrepreneur makes his business happen through hard work, luck, sweat, luck and perseverance, there is another factor at work taking care of all the little so he doesn't have to, that is the government. He doesn't ALWAYS have to hire private security since there are cops around. He doesn't have to worry that if he leaves at night someone will steal his stuff since we have respect for property in our laws. Roads to and from his place of business will be taken care of, no foreign nations will invade, bank transactions will be honored (check out banking of the 1800s if you think just because a bank does one thing, all the other banks will honor it) and there will be a sense of domestic tranquility.
Which is what the founding fathers wanted all along.
So it is written, so do I see it.
PS I have nothing insightful at this time to write about the mass shooting in Colorado my thoughts and well wishes go out to the families of that tragedy
I also have nothing to say about Penn State getting hit with massive penalties from the NCAA. Mostly because fanatics in the realm are taking up too much oxygen and I'm hoping they get bored and wander off so the adults can talk.