The President of the United Statesannounced last week that he would like to streamline the government. He is asking congress the permission to reorganize the executive branch so that it is more efficient and serves people better, or efficacy. He also said that he wants to make it smaller.
Size of government seems to be a major issue this year. I would like address this head-on.
The goal of a national government should be to create a system of shared prosperity through shared responsibility among its citizens.
The government has two financial responsibilities. First is to provide as much services possible for the least amount of money, also known as efficiency or productivity. The second is to regulate and referee the economy as a whole so that people's efforts are rewarded fairly.
This means that if the government is too large, the people just follow the rules and no growth will result in the economy because all the rewards would be allocated toward compliance of the rules in place. If the government is too small, then Americans just end up competing against other Americans. The right size government fosters teamwork among Americans, working together to compete against other nations in the global economic market. Yes, I'm stating that a capitalist system is nations competing against nations.
Dispite all of the rhetoric about too much regulation in the United States, the result seems to look like there actually isn't enough regulation in most parts of the economy. Americans do not, in general, look out for other Americans. Americans are actually trying to beat other Americans. This in part because corporations are no longer asked to provide anything in return for the limited liability and endless life they are provided. Corporations effectively pay less taxes as a percentage of their income than normal Americans. And they main their limited liability to shareholders. And with no mandate for corporations to provide anything to the state, corporations think of states are a set of natural and human resources. Once they can get either for cheaper, then they leave, having provided less than they have taken.
With the normal American having less freedom to compete against entrenched large corporations (with the exception of the technology sector), America does not compete against any nation. America is a loser in the global economy.
