A Very Minor Rant

I was talking with some teenagers today about basic economic principles, and the topic was Comparative Advantage. I argued that certain jobs were being outsourced because the United States simply no longer has the comparative advantage in the production of goods. Think about it. If the something can be produced elsewhere at an extremely reduced cost, then only a fool would produce that thing here.

So I asked, "What is America's comparative advantage?" I was thinking services and ideas--ready to cite the example that the iPod was conceived of and designed in California, even if it was assembled in China.

Instead, one of them shrugged and said, "Uh, government?"

Alas, they've been hoodwinked by the political-industrial complex before their 13th birthdays.

The only things that governments produce are wars, recessions, tyranny, and misery. When a people are at peace, doing well economically, free, and happy, it's not because of what the government is doing. It's because of what the government is not doing.

Governments don't wage peace. They wage wars.

Government policies don't create prosperity. They create poverty. It's the lack of government policies that allows free markets to create prosperity.

Governments don't create freedom. They create tyranny. The feds didn't have jack squat to do with our being free. We're born free with independent minds, and we'd stay free if only governments would get the heck out of the way.

Governments don't enhance happiness. They reduce it. They don't even ensure the pursuit of happiness, unless you mean that they leave people alone to pursue happiness as they see fit. That's not doing something. That is not doing something.

It seems counterintuitive to many, but governments do good only when they do nothing.