A long, long time ago, our c ountry and the rest of the industrialized world enjoyed rapid explosions of production, wealth, and standards of living connected to the Industrial Revolution. Like a cart pulled by a team of Clydesdales, industry broughtus into the 20th century fast and strong. People had high expectations for the social utility of the money that could be made. They also assumed that no matter what happened, companies would always want to manufacture in the good ol' US of A.
Expectations and assumptions became part of the problem. We always assumed that the team could pull more weight, add more burdens, and would still be able to muscle through. Bureaucracy, stringent environmental regulations, taxes, and thousands more requirements from three and sometimes four separate levels of government have taken their toll. Manufacturing has left our shores for more congenial environments. The wealth created is being siphoned off quickly by our government because it assumes that our economy will always be able to handle the burden.
Well, our industrial economy no longer can. The horses are foaming and stumbling. They need relief from the weight we have demanded that they carry. Democrats want to throw off thimblefulls and moderate Republicans propose cupfulls. We need to toss a lot more off of the cart to get the economy moving efficiently again.
No comments:
Post a Comment