Get Out of Our Way or Pave the Way?

[antagon]

What's your take on the ideal role of government in our economy?

 

[asterism]

Get out of the way as much as possible.

 

[uscitizen]

Comic relief?

 

[Old Rocks]

Government paved the way in the 50s and 60s, created the Interstate System.

Government got out of the way in the first decade of this century, letting the financial institutions do as they wanted, and depended on them to police themselves. We damned near got the Second Great Republican Depression.

 

[Sallow]

Something in between.

Not to much..not to little..and alot of it is situational.

 

[loosecannon]

What's your take on the ideal role of government in our economy?

Define "get out of the way". Cuz frankly I think that the government needs to get in the way in regards to a reasonable taxation policy, a national central bank and regulation that fortifies banking on their dime while preventing a lot of hocus pocus/quasi ponzi scheme "investment vehicles", securities and "assets" like leased gold!

Beyond that I really believe the government is not trustworthy to manage an economy. Plus they use the economy for a political tool. [sarc?]Maybe we should task the military with enforcement of economic rules and laws. I imagine heads would roll but that the job would be accomplished satisfactorially. [/sarc?]

Ideally somebody independent should manage the economy and oversight over the financial sector but between corruption and power and conflict of interest nobody can be trusted to do the right thing.

Would a world body be a better overseer? Is there anybody that can be trusted to do a fair job at all?

Are we therefore fucked?

I dunno if I trust the government to manage a budget.

Would/could the people themselves do a better job? [sarc] Would the states do a better job[/sarc]?

[dead f***ing serious]Are we therefore fucked?[/dead f***ing serious]

 

[JBeukema]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YE_j0xIsJA[/ame]

 

[antagon]

What's your take on the ideal role of government in our economy?

Define "get out of the way". Cuz frankly I think that the government needs to get in the way in regards to a reasonable taxation policy, a national central bank and regulation that fortifies banking on their dime while preventing a lot of hocus pocus/quasi ponzi scheme "investment vehicles", securities and "assets" like leased gold!

Beyond that I really believe the government is not trustworthy to manage an economy. Plus they use the economy for a political tool. [sarc?]Maybe we should task the military with enforcement of economic rules and laws. I imagine heads would roll but that the job would be accomplished satisfactorially. [/sarc?]

Ideally somebody independent should manage the economy and oversight over the financial sector but between corruption and power and conflict of interest nobody can be trusted to do the right thing.

Would a world body be a better overseer? Is there anybody that can be trusted to do a fair job at all?

Are we therefore fucked?

I dunno if I trust the government to manage a budget.

Would/could the people themselves do a better job? [sarc] Would the states do a better job[/sarc]?

[dead f***ing serious]Are we therefore fucked?[/dead f***ing serious]

you'll have to ask a libertarian what they mean by out of the way. i couldn't do such an idea justice with my cynicism.

our country is faced with challenges which we rise to from time to time. the government has always played a big role in these transitions. whether or not we're fucked is based on whether or not america, public and private, will make such a revival at this point when i think it is increasingly make or break.

 

[code1211]

What's your take on the ideal role of government in our economy?

The government that governs least, governs best. In ancient Greece, there were no building codes.

There was one law that governed building that seemed to have worked. If the building you built collapsed and someone died, you were put to death. Result? The Parthenon stood intact for millenia until artillery destroyed some of it.

Our tax code is a travesty.

Thoreau told us to simplify. Why he then repeated it twice is confusing, but he did.

"Simplify, simplify, simplify".

Government is a needed evil that needs to be kept as abreviated as is possible to get the job done.

 

[Granny]

Less is more. Government bureaucracy is notoriously ineffective and for the most part useless. It meddles into areas where it has no business, there are few in Congress who have a clue about the inner workings of anything they are trying to regulate.

I think the 2010 election "rebellion" has made an initial warning that government on both sides of the aisle better shape up or be shipped out.

 

[editec]

My view of the government we have now?

Its a handmaiden to BIG CAPITAL regardless of which party holds power.

 

[antagon]

What's your take on the ideal role of government in our economy?

The government that governs least, governs best. In ancient Greece, there were no building codes.

There was one law that governed building that seemed to have worked. If the building you built collapsed and someone died, you were put to death. Result? The Parthenon stood intact for millenia until artillery destroyed some of it.

Our tax code is a travesty.

Thoreau told us to simplify. Why he then repeated it twice is confusing, but he did.

"Simplify, simplify, simplify".

Government is a needed evil that needs to be kept as abreviated as is possible to get the job done.

this is an interesting perspective on the tax code. as a businessperson, i dont mind the complication, to be honest. it makes certain that i'll not be liable for the entirety of my bare obligation.

for folks concerned about the complication, and who aren't concerned with the advantages of complexity, why not just file a 1040-EZ or claim the alt-min for businesses? takes 10 minutes.

 

[loosecannon]

So nobody has yet addressed the issue of if not government then who should be responsible for managing our economy and nation.

 

[JWBooth]

lock the doors, round up the staffs, and send them on a one way paid vacation to Kyrgyzstan.

 

[B. Kidd]

We need a gov't that does not let larger business lobby for legislation that drives smaller businesses out of business.

For example, say I own a small independent gourmet wine shop where 99% of my business orders come over the internet and 70% of my sales are shipped to customers in other states.
Along come larger wine and beer wholesalers who get lobbyists to sponser a bill like a current one that sits in the U.S. House of Representatives today, called the 'Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010'.
This bill, if passed, severely restricts direct interstate shipping of wine by retailers.
It passes, I'm out of business along with any employees I have losing their jobs.

 

[uscitizen]

We need a gov't that does not let larger business lobby for legislation that drives smaller businesses out of business.

For example, say I own a small independent gourmet wine shop where 99% of my business orders come over the internet and 70% of my sales are shipped to customers in other states.
Along come larger wine and beer wholesalers who get lobbyists to sponser a bill like a current one that sits in the U.S. House of Representatives today, called the 'Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010'.
This bill, if passed, severely restricts direct interstate shipping of wine by retailers.
It passes, I'm out of business along with any employees I have losing their jobs.

I see only one positive thing about that bill.
How do you certify that the purchaser is old enough to buy and consume alcoholic beverages?

 

[B. Kidd]

We need a gov't that does not let larger business lobby for legislation that drives smaller businesses out of business.

For example, say I own a small independent gourmet wine shop where 99% of my business orders come over the internet and 70% of my sales are shipped to customers in other states.
Along come larger wine and beer wholesalers who get lobbyists to sponser a bill like a current one that sits in the U.S. House of Representatives today, called the 'Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010'.
This bill, if passed, severely restricts direct interstate shipping of wine by retailers.
It passes, I'm out of business along with any employees I have losing their jobs.

I see only one positive thing about that bill.
How do you certify that the purchaser is old enough to buy and consume alcoholic beverages?

I'm sure underage drinkers are lining up in droves to buy expensive gourmet wines. And I don't know, I don't own a gourmet wine shop.

 

[antagon]

We need a gov't that does not let larger business lobby for legislation that drives smaller businesses out of business.

For example, say I own a small independent gourmet wine shop where 99% of my business orders come over the internet and 70% of my sales are shipped to customers in other states.
Along come larger wine and beer wholesalers who get lobbyists to sponser a bill like a current one that sits in the U.S. House of Representatives today, called the 'Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010'.
This bill, if passed, severely restricts direct interstate shipping of wine by retailers.
It passes, I'm out of business along with any employees I have losing their jobs.

I see only one positive thing about that bill.
How do you certify that the purchaser is old enough to buy and consume alcoholic beverages?

that's a good point about the age restrictions.

i wont set aside a future trend of bigger biz in the death throes of their model turning to the government for a crutch. this will be an age of regulatory capture with the silver-lining that the government seems intent on taxing them for the privilege. the silver part comes from the potential for broader income taxes to be maintained at the relatively low rates theyre at.

case and point: obamacare, equity-based bailouts, even the dead environmental proposals.

i've been a member of the chamber of commerce for just shy of a decade. i'm not impressed with their work in washington. there needs to be a better mechanism to advocate small business concerns than they've demonstrated. they've missed the message for my dollar. its a good thing that they facilitate business on a local level.

there's a vacuum of class-action small business advocacy/lobbying in DC. for starters, i think the cabinet level position for the SBA from the clinton years needs to be set in stone.

 

[JBeukema]

What's your take on the ideal role of government in our economy?

The government that governs least, governs best. In ancient Greece, there were no building codes.

Nor in Haiti

 

[code1211]

What's your take on the ideal role of government in our economy?

The government that governs least, governs best. In ancient Greece, there were no building codes.

Nor in Haiti

Excellent point. Athens was in an earthquake zone at the time of its golden age. That might be why the law they used was used.