Economic Growth

Another problem with big government solutions to economic problems is that ALL economic growth comes from small businesses. Small businesses don't do business with the government. At least not new startups. The only thing government can do to promote the growth of small businesses is to get out of the way. Overmuch bureaucracy stifles the kind of creativity needed to make a more prosperous world.

The government can only cultivate an atmosphere where creativity can work freely. They could not have said to Bill Gates in the 70s, 'We think you have a good idea and will give you money to go forward.' Gates would never have amounted to anything had that happened. He had to earn his success to actually achieve it. (I know that sounds a little circular in my reasoning, but I mean it.)

To cultivate a creative atmosphere, there should be a clear set of rules to play by and a limited scope of government so that it is not perpetually gobbling up everything that moves.

Businesses big enough to deal with the billions the government doles out are no solution for a sluggish economy. The very nature of big businesses is that they seek to do more with less. Job one in big business is to increase productivity. So if a big business can do the same jobs with a 10% smaller workforce, they need to either find new things for that 10% to do or cut the workforce.

Growth is a bottom-up, individual, community centered process. Government spending, massive projects, roads, bridges, etc. will never do anything to increase the hiring of a small business. Not the kind that increases national productivity.

I may carve out one exception, and that is some high tech research. The government has more resources for things like that, but the results need to be made available to entrepreneurs and startups so they can come up with new and innovative uses for the technology. But even that I would rather have funded privately.

Economic Leadership

It is easy to lament the state of the economy. Debt rules households, corporations, and government at all levels. But for some reason, the power brokers who have created the vast corporate and government debt haven't been removed from power.

To borrow money and create a false sense of wealth is blatant dishonesty.

This is really a matter of leadership. But the difficulty is deciding who the leader is. Did the attitude of profligate spending start in Washington and households followed suit, or the other way around? Really, the twin debts are mutually reinforcing. And the solution is the same for households and the government. Stop spending more than you make. But that is a very unpopular solution for both.

Politicians or households would rather just have more income. That can work with households, but not so much with politicians. If politicians go for more income they either tax the economy to death or print money which causes inflation to murder the economy.

Role Reversal

Who knew that the day would come when Democrats were the party of big government and big business? Despite all the branding to the opposite, Republicans have become the party of the little guy - the individual investors, the tea partiers, and the small business owners.

In fact, I would almost rather the Republicans be the party of big business, because having Democrats as the party of big government AND big business is a dangerous invitation for corruption.

In an individual business, it is important to separate responsibilities related to money. For example, one person enters checks into the register, one person signs checks, and two separate people make deposits at the bank. Thus you need the dishonesty of several people with competing interests to get robbed by your employees.

If business and government are controlled by one party, there is a big risk for collusion and corruption. I would be concerned with Republicans taking over half the economy just as I am for Democrats taking over half the economy (when you consider bailouts and healthcare and cap-and-trade).

All the current financial difficulties are a result of individual actors making dishonest or foolish choices. The famous old phrase is that society requires obedience to the unenforceable. If there is a lack of honesty, it does not matter the laws on the books, the regulations, or the enforcement in place. Nothing can keep a corrupt culture from financial ruin.

How do you fight this?

This past week there was a US Army major who went on a murderous rampage killing 13 and injuring 31 others. This was not Afghanistan, but deep in the heart of Texas at Fort Hood. This act was undeniable evil. I have exactly zero ill will toward the Muslim faith. But this man's Muslim faith is what drove him to do murder those soldiers as he shouted Allah Akbar.

Mark Steyn has a typically good article talking about the hole in our strategy for dealing with terrorism. He is long on diagnosing the symptoms of our flawed strategy, but short on prescription. Well, here is the prescription:

For too many in the Muslim world there is no love for anyone they disagree with, including other sects of Muslims. Muslim on Muslim violence is probably worse than Muslim on infidel violence.

There is really only one cure for this problem: to strengthen the family. Recently at a BYU Forum, there was a story of a group in Afghanistan working to strengthen families there. The group is called penniesforpeace.org. The speaker was Greg Mortenson and the mp3 of his talk is here.

One key is to educate the women. They then hold their children close to the family and prevent them from being attracted to the Taliban and their lethal version of Islam.

This gives great meaning to the statement in the Family Proclamation:

we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

Thus, the terrorism problem very similar to the gang problem in US inner cities. Gangs and the Taliban thrive on the same principle. They prey on the uneducated, those with weak families, and they promote both problems.

The disconnect is that the 9/11 attacks and this week's attack at Fort Hood were perpetrated by educated individuals. But they take their inspiration from the Muslim people who are oppressed by lack of education. Somehow groups like the Taliban and gangs are able to export their poisoned ideologies even to the educated.

How often do people with education think the gang lifestyle is glamorous and love the music that comes from it? It must be the same thing that the educated who are drawn to terrorism find something glamorous in the terrorist message. I am willing to guess that had Nidal Malik Hasan been married that he would have never gone on that murderous rampage.

One of the things mentioned by Greg Mortenson is that the mother has to give approval before a son goes into jihad. Educated women did not give permission. The lack of love in the world preys on the lack of education.

Shouldn't Spending Cuts Be Common Sense?

The federal government is notorious for inefficient use of funds. Every dollar they tax for their own use is less than a dollar put back into the economy to spur economic growth.  Obviously, there are some things only government can do: police, fire, national defense, etc. (I am not being exhaustive, just giving examples.)

When unemployment is high it leads to other things.  Underemployment, for example.  People who are qualified in terms of experience and education, but can't find as high a paying job as they could be worth.  Also, people take part-time work when they would prefer full time.  All three categories (unemployment, underemployment, and part-timers) lead to lower incomes and lower federal income tax receipts. 

And yet, at this very time, the government is creating money from nothing to stimulate the economy.  Newly created dollars decrease the value of savings and debt.  Thus rewarding the bad behavior that caused the economic downturn and punishing those who were responsible with their money and lived within their means.

For anyone who can't turn on the printing press and get more money, it is time to tighten the belt and cut waste.  If that works for everyone else, why not the government?  I have done a fair amount of construction work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and they cut their building budget by almost 75% this year.  Obviously they are a financially sound organization and the federal government is not, but why not have the feds copy what people, businesses, and churches do? 

Cut spending when times are lean.  Sounds simple, right?  Well, not likely with Democrats (or Republicans - let's be fair) in power.  But we can dream, can't we?

Closing Guantanamo

I remember a conversation I had on a Southwest flight to Houston earlier this year. I mentioned it before. One thing I said to him was that President Obama's announcement that closing the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility was just window dressing. It was merely a cosmetic change. He felt like it was genuine change.

I suppose there is still time left this year, but I just want to gloat a little: I was right. The facility is still open and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Those scoundrels held there are dangerous and nobody wants to release them or transfer them to other prisons or other nations' prisons.

That fellow traveler also didn't believe when I told him about released terrorists landing back on the battlefield. He said it was made up by the vast right wing spin machine. I researched that a little more and was right about that as well.

Blogging My Life

Every once in a while, I include personal items on this blog. At some point, those items will land on another blog with my wife. Speaking of my wife, I'm getting married. Here are some of her blog entries about me:

• EFY 2009 Nauvoo
• Tony
• Ever After

I thought I would give a little of my side of the story. There are all kinds of miracles that led to us meeting at EFY this year. I was recruited by a friend to be an EFY counselor in San Antonio in 2008. He met his wife that year at EFY and moved away from College Station. Had I started my degree at Texas A&M a year earlier or a year later, I would not have known about EFY at the right time.

Friends from San Antonio EFY last year went to Nauvoo at the end of that summer. Once I decided to do EFY again, I knew that I wanted to spend two weeks in Nauvoo this summer. But doing EFY meant that I would have to be away from my regular job. So the slow economy made EFY easier to do.

Once at Nauvoo, I needed to have the right group in order to meet Jeri Lin. The coordinators described struggling more than normal when choosing which counselors would work together. After re-shuffling the deck, they grouped counselors together and the last three to be assigned were me and my two female co-counselors. That put me and Jeri Lin in the same group.

I had made decisions over my years home from my mission that I thought would help me find my wife. Long distance relationships were outlawed. And lately, I had only asked out returned sister missionaries. This did several things for me. One was it gave me a hint about her dedication to the Church. The other was that returned sister missionaries are closer to my age. With personal rules like that, it seems unlikely that I would have a young fiancee in Mesa, Arizona.

But after spending a week with Jeri Lin in my group at EFY, I couldn't help being impressed with her. As we toured Old Nauvoo, I was teaching and telling stories. But she also taught our little group of 6 and was telling Church history stories. So I knew she was smart and well read. But what really started impressing me about Jeri Lin as the week went on was her testimony. She had several opportunities to testify during the week. I'm not sure I know anyone for whom the veil is so thin.

At the end of EFY she wrote me a letter thanking me for the week and encouraging me in some of the struggles I shared with her. After reading that letter, I had this thought of "What if?" in my head. But I figured there was no way anything could happen just because of the 1000 miles that would separate us and the 10 years that do separate us.

We started chatting online after getting home and the rest is history. We were both interested, even if we were both surprised the other was. I met her family in September. She meets mine in October. And we will get married in the Mesa Temple in January. Who says miracles don't happen?