In other news, JP Morgan just posted a $2 billion loss due to their hedge trading unit. One of the paragons of the capitalist system. Big and old and supposedly "successful" and supposedly run by very smart people who deserve very high pay because what they're doing is very hard and technical, and only they know how to manage resources efficiently, unlike say the government. Let's not even get into the paychecks of all the CEO's, traders, partners, huge sums of money for what in many cases involves just hiring other people and telling them what to do, pointing out the obvious, etc. Meanwhile the little people, the people that do the vast majority of the real and necessary work in our communities --- teachers, doctors, repairmen, cops, firefighters, road crew, waiters, delivery folks, carpenters, electricians, etc. --- get the least amount of pay. Because that's "efficient". If that's an efficient allocation of resources, maybe that's a bad thing.
I think we agree on the idea that government should be small, or at least as small as possible. And we agree on the roles it should play. But I don't buy into the argument that government is inherently bad at allocating resources efficiently and private businesses are inherently good. I've seen way way too many examples that contradict the latter. I think it ultimately comes to individual situations and the choices of individuals, what information is available to them, their goals, where their financial interests pull them.
I think we agree on the idea that government should be small, or at least as small as possible. And we agree on the roles it should play. But I don't buy into the argument that government is inherently bad at allocating resources efficiently and private businesses are inherently good. I've seen way way too many examples that contradict the latter. I think it ultimately comes to individual situations and the choices of individuals, what information is available to them, their goals, where their financial interests pull them.