the only politician today that gets it...

It is amazing how some people may still be convinced that too much of a good thing is even better. Even as a child I quickly learned that cake was good but too much of it caused stomach pain. Of course I couldn't restrain myself as a child...

In today's economy, some people figured out that some markets, when left little regulated and with low taxation, with enough competition will work better than if governmentally controlled. But from there to conclude that every single one should be made to run free and wild as the solution to sustain economic growth, is for me, not so obvious, and is asking for stomach pains. It requires a blind faith to believe that, and not having eaten enough cake as a child...

A government exists because we as a individual people alone cannot enforce justice and a more balanced wealth distribution in society, so we trust a few elected to represent us in doing so.  Getting rid of government, or eliminating any government intervention in economy and markets only serves the interests of a very few, no matter how much these very few may claim that it benefits all. Capitalism has no self restrain mechanisms. Ask yourself, if you were a millionaire capitalist, whether you would give away your fortune to save the world if scientists told you it would end tomorrow if you didn't. You probably would say yes now, just because you're not actually a millionaire and it doesn't disturb you to consider giving away something you don't have anyway. But the day you have it, you'd say let the other millionaires do it, why should I? People who have obscene amounts of money feel entitled to it, and feel entitled to more. Only very rarely will someone like that feel the urge to distribute it, like Bill Gates claims to be doing... 

So we still need government to guarantee justice and fair redistribution of wealth, besides other things we can't achieve alone. Why do we need that exactly? Because history has demonstrated that the bigger the gap between the richest and the poorest in a society the likelier it is that social unrest will rise and destroy that society (revolutions, civil and international wars, genocide, etc.). Yes history has also demonstrated that extreme socialist totalitarian regimes don't work either, but again here the problem was some people believing in too much of a good thing again... 

So here goes a quote from a modern aware and awaken American politician, he says:

"But our history should give us confidence that we don't have to choose between an oppressive, government-run economy and a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism. It tells us that we can emerge from great economic upheavals stronger, not weaker. Like those who came before us, we should be asking ourselves what mix of policies will lead to a dynamic free market and widespread economic security, entrepreneurial innovation and upward mobility. And we can be guided throughout by Lincoln's simple maxim: that we will do collectively, through our government, only those things that we cannot do as well or at all individually and privately."

The problem is believing that there are still out there such people that we can trust to elect to represent us in doing so. I hope at least this one politician succeeds in his country. This paragraph was taken from Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope". I'm now reading through chapter 5 (Opportunity) and found he has similar views on the evolution from government controlled to free market economy and the challenges it causes, and also the possible benefits of a recession in terms of bringing about important structural changes, as I described here in previous posts.