When it is operating properly, government’s role in our free-enterprise system is mainly to act as a check on those who would defraud, coerce or otherwise harm others.
But beyond those basic functions, government should mostly keep out of the way of the economy. Government does not produce jobs and economic growth. With the right policies, however, it can foster the conditions — such as the rule of law and respect for private property — that allow the free market to generate prosperity through the voluntary production, sale and purchase of goods and services.
So it is troubling that President Barack Obama recently suggested that government — not the free market — is the source of American advancement.
In his State of the Union speech, he went on the attack against Republicans who want to make serious cuts in spending to begin bringing down our crippling $14 trillion debt. Opposing major cuts in government spending, he offered this analogy:
“Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine.”