President Barack Obama is on an economic warpath to overhaul Wall Street — which is symbolic of our nation’s financial system.
Wall Street certainly does not operate to perfection. It has its faults.
But look at the federal government! Do you think its operations are a model for how our economy should operate?
What does the federal government operate really well, fairly, efficiently and economically? We should be quite wary of having government, with all of its political influences, dictating and controlling so much in our nation’s economy.
Government has a proper role — a constitutionally limited one: To see that there is an even playing field, and to oppose and prosecute fraud. But where in the Constitution do you see any suggestion that government should dictate or operate our nation’s and our people’s economy? No such delegation of power is there!
Government should not say who “wins” or “loses,” who thrives or fails. Each enterprise should rise or fall on its own merits, or lack thereof, the decisions being made by a free people in a free enterprise market system.
Government should not condemn or bail out financial firms.
Government should not dictate the size of economic firms. Some should be small, some large, depending upon our people’s perception of their service, as reflected by their free-choice patronage of them.
Government’s proper role is simply to provide laws assuring integrity, honesty, fairness and safety.
Some economic “reforms” are certainly appropriate. But shouldn’t they begin with limiting government itself? Government, unfortunately, provides far more examples of improper, even unconstitutional, and disreputable economic activities than Wall Street, which certainly is far from perfect.