Misplaced Faith

Why do so many Americans place faith in the Federal Government? It seems that whether it’s a person that buys a mortgage with lousy terms and loses their home, a fee on an ATM card, a recall on a car, or some tainted food product, the first response by the media and many Americans is “what is the federal government going to do about it?”

The Federal Government is the greatest source of failure in this country. There is no market holding it accountable. It is the consummate monopoly and still people put their faith in it. Look at the Post Office; it is bleeding billions of tax payer subsidies for inefficient processes and management. Look at Welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps, the EPA, FDA, Department of Education, all bleeding tax dollars through corrupt bureaucracies and mismanagement.

The private sector market is not perfect but it is regulated in the most effective manner known to man, the competitive process. If a private sector organization fails they are punished by losing customers and profits. Competitors come in and replace them therefore righting the wrong that was done by that organization. It happens every day, almost unconsciously as consumers make choices to buy or not buy products.

GM was bailed out by the Federal Government and everyone praises the fact that they saved the company. The argument is that if the feds didn’t bail out GM the company would not exist today. There is nothing further than the truth. The company would have simply gone into bankruptcy court, restructured all of its contracts, including the unsustainable union contracts, re-organized its car lines, eliminated the cars that only sell a few hundred a month (green cars) and come out a better more efficient company. The best thing is we the tax payer would have paid $0 in the process. It has been happening in the airline industry for years. Mis managed companies are forced by the market to become better companies or close their doors forever. That is the market process.

Some people get hurt in the process but that is why the system works so well. The winners and losers are rewarded or punished based on their ability to perform for the consumer resources they hope to attract. Because the Federal Government injected itself into the GM debacle, the company still has contracts that are weighing down their long term success and many consumers, myself included, will never buy another GM product due to their relationship with the feds. That is the market at work and unless the Federal Government buys every car company I will always choose a non- government company every time.

Every time we ask the Federal Government to do anything the cost to us is freedom. The Federal Governments most efficient process is to limit freedom. They limit our choices by interjecting regulations that keep competitors out of industries. They increase the cost of doing business which stifles new business growth and they mandate what companies must provide and what consumers must buy. And yet we keep asking the Federal Government to do more. The US Constitution was created to limit the encroachment by the Federal Government against the freedom of every individual in this country, yet we turn a blind eye to the greatest document against tyrannical government ever. Why?