Your Weekend Dose of Doom & Gloom
July 7th, 2012 - 8:05 am
America is seizing up before our eyes, and the action necessary to reverse the sclerosis is stymied at every turn by rapacious unions, government micro-regulators, dependency-spreading social engineers, and crony capitalists who know how to weave their way through the bureaucracy.
The image that came to my mind was an old-school political cartoon, of Uncle Sam in the grip of a giant boa constrictor. It was made up of several segments, labeled “unions,” “regulators,” “social engineers,” and “crony capitalists.” It’s an apt image, and I’d like to see an artist draw it.
Left unanswered: Who will wield the machete the hack the beast to bits.
The machete will take the form of Going Galt.
They can’t rape a victim who refuses to be victimized.
Who will wield the machete the hack the beast to bits?
Seems to me the best place to look might be St. George, Utah.
This country didn’t become the greatest economic force since the Roman Empire because of its central banking policies, it became an economic force because its human capital was free to grow to its fullest potential because there were fewer regulatory barriers here than anywhere else in the world. Today’s economic problems are largely due to the regulatory strangulation of the citizens of the country.
If you want to grow out of this ditch, you are going to have to set our people free (again).
And there you have the core of our dilemma. Many politicians feel that free people means less power for them, and that simply cannot be allowed to stand. What scares the political class is the mere idea that people can get along just fine without them. Most of their actions are about ensuring that such a thing never be allowed to occur.
Let me explain this another way. Around the world on a daily basis, we are witnessing the impact of an economic phenomenon called “Disintermediation” that has been brought about by the Information Revolution. This is a big long word that simply means “Cutting out the middle man”. The best illustration of this phenomenon can be found at Amazon.com and its impact on the book publishing industry.
Amazon correctly saw that the publishing industry was ripe for “Disintermediation” and in the last 10 years, they have managed to completely upend the entire book industry. Bookstores, publishers every part of the book publishing food chain all the way down to authors have been completely disrupted by Amazon from the way things were before. The consumer, the writers and Amazon shareholders have largely benefited from this disruptive activity. Books that once cost 40 dollars, now routinely cost less than 20 while at the same time, more money is going to the author rather than the publishers. Books that once were the strict domain of paper and binding are now routinely made instantly available via electronic format, the benefit in terms of speed to market and costs are self evident. Because of Amazon, you have a wider variety of books and material at lower cost than at any time in the history of mankind.
In short, Amazons “Disintermediation” has moved the producer and the consumer closer together and both ends of the exchange have benefited. The consumer is largely happy with their relationship with Apple and Amazon because they have removed barriers. Care to guess who polls higher, Apple, Amazon or Congress? Foregone conclusion isnt it?
Throughout history, in Private Industry this process of disintermediation has been normal. While the Information Revolution has sped the process and benefits of Disintermediation, its not a new process. However in the Public Sector, Disintermediation is anathema. While the last 10 years has seen dramatic growth in Private Sector disintermediation, in the same timeframe, the public sector has gone in the exact opposite direction. The Information Revolution in the Public Sector, rather than put less barriers between producer and consumer has in fact put in more barriers!
In 30 years time, we will look back at this time and wonder why it took so long for the public sector to divest itself of so many inefficient and ineffective layers, yet the answer is clear. The reason has nothing to do with making the voter (the consumer) happier, it has everything to do with creating rules that protect the ruling class. Imagine if the publishing industry had been able to keep Amazon from doing its work of the past 10 years, or the recording industry had managed to keep Apple out of the Itunes business. Would your life be better or worse?
What is needed, badly needed, is less, not more regulatory and legislative layers. What we need is to disintermediate ourselves – from government.
“Left unanswered: Who will wield the machete the hack the beast to bits.”
Never the Democrat scum. But not the current GOP either, using government to protect their own interests rather than us.
Going Galt will eventually be the only solution. For 95% of America, it’s going to be a painful one. Not all will make it. That’s a good thing.
What will come after? A second chance that won’t be squandered, I hope. But a much smaller, much less populous group of states I imagine.
Callous, if a likely accurate assessment. The only thing you failed to address is that the rest of the world is not going to sit around and wait for the US to sort itself out.
Read Without Warning, by John Birmingham, for a rather extreme example of what such a scenario might look like.
Suppose we restrict voting rights to only those who are NOT receiving a check from the government?
Racist!
The Floridians who wanted to restrict voting rights to only those who are living and are citizens were called racist and were hauled to court for culling illegal and dead voters from their voting roll.
Who will wield the machete?
No-one. There are NO INCENTIVES to get the spending or growth of government under control. It is simply politically impossible, hence the wailing and gnashing of teeth coming out of Washington.
What is left is total economic collapse. The loss of everyone’s 401k via confiscation (except those TBTF – CEO’s, Wall Streeters, Congress and favoured minions) , the US dollar joins Zimbucks as a failed currency and the country implodes just like Argentina did in 2001.
Maybe when we hit rock bottom the courage will be found to make the hard adult decisions… or maybe not… Argentina still loves socialism even if it ends in hyper inflationary collapse every 10-15 years or so…
Obama promised change, he’s delivering…