Economics and Government

President-elect Obama outlined a plan, yesterday, in order to get us out of an “economic crisis of historic proportions.” His plan would create millions of jobs over the next several years. The jobs: rebuild roads and bridges, modernize schools, developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars. It seems the government wants to make what is bad worse. Government failure and government failure has helped brings us to the economic crisis. They are quickly, too quickly, trying to find ways to fix what they caused in the first place. The free market is not really free, with government eyes and mandates everywhere. Government is the root cause of the credit crisis so what does Congress do? They passed a massive bailout package. I wouldn’t be surprised if down the line they do bail out the auto companies. I realize there are a lot of jobs at risk. But government mandates and the labor unions have pushed the auto companies into the corner. It just seems that additional mandates for “more efficient cars” is not the best plan just now. If they really want to help the economy, cut taxes, especially taxes on wealth. Capital gains taxes hurt more than they help. Over the last several months, I have heard stories about how people, on the assumption that President-elect Obama will raise taxes to pay his plans, have started selling large assets (such as the Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga) to avoid higher capital gains taxes in the coming years. Putting more people on the government payroll is just not the answer to rebuild this economy. Creating jobs is best left the entrepreneurs and private companies.