Businesses that consistently serve their customers poorly suffer deep losses and can even shut down as I see it. They're forced to innovate, improve efficiency, compete with other businesses. They require customers to voluntarily pay for their products and services.
The government has no such incentives. They're also extremely bureaucratic. They tend to grow exponentially faster than shrink like bloatware whose codebase keeps expanding and expanding to the point where the developers can no longer predict the effects of their changes, and often end up introducing two new bugs each time try to correct one. Yet, unlike businesses, they can't throw out this metaphorical codebase and start over.
Yet I also don't think it's the nature of a free market to converge towards giant businesses swallowing up the underdogs and becoming price setters. It doesn't seem the case in Singapore, for example, where I lived for several years. It's the most economically free nation in the world and what you see there is a thriving market of small businesses able to compete with the largest since the high economic freedom reduces the regulatory and tax burdens to the point where even those of modest means and little capital can actually compete and it's absent the type of corruption we see in the US.
With businesses we also get an ethical choice. Let's say a business does something we consider deeply unethical. We can opt out of supporting them by refusing to purchase their products and services. We can even try to organize a boycott.
We can't do that with government as the government operates by force. Businesses operate by consent.
That's exacerbated by big government, yes? If you're talking about central banks and monetary policy. A small government would focus more on fiscal policy and limit government expenditures as well as have a very limited central bank.
Yet that's very steep into what is already a very big and convoluted government. I really think the US is a relatively poor example of a free market economy. I'm making case for why, say, Singapore remains better off with its very limited government that minimally interferes with its economy. I think that's a better starting point. It's not tainted a history of cronyism.
Maybe we're talking about "big" in different contexts. From my perspective, even Bush expanded the government. He introduced MPD, NCLB, TARP, started the war on terror, established DHS, created massive deficits with increased spending. Clinton actually would be an example of someone I see as having successfully reduced the size and influence of government during his term.
You’re right, in that we’re arguing broadly. Sure he expanded govt in areas his politics wanted and limited it areas his politics wanted.
But it’s shown he (and Clinton, I believe) de-regulated Wall Street to invest FDIC money like pensions into derivatives which then crashed and burned. And Moody’s and other “watchdogs” were so defunded and skeletonized it was forced to give good bullshit stock.
The one thing I always worried about being on the libertarian side of things is that it seems difficult to control exactly in what ways government grows big. I'd be willing to concede that there might be some way for a big government that grows big in a very specific way to be superior to a smaller one. Yet there are many possible directions in which the public sector can grow and it might just depend on which political representatives are elected at a current time as to which directions it'll grow, but grow and grow it'll tend to do without a focus on keeping it small. Small, even if inferior, at least converges towards a single direction. It doesn't have to be so partisan.
What did you think of Andrew Yang if I may ask? I actually thought he had interesting ideas even though they might be, what some consider, big government with UBI.
Mind-blowing report from Sen. Ran Paul highlighting $900 billion in government waste. I'll link to his "2023 Festivus Report" below.
It is DISGUSTING what this inept, bloated government spends your money on. Check out a few of these examples, quoted directly from this report:
📛 federal grant to study Russian cats walking on a treadmill;
📛 Barbies used as proof of ID for receiving COVID stimulus funds;
📛 $6 million to promote tourism in Egypt;
📛 $200 million to "struggling artists" like Post Malone, Chris Brown, and little Wayne.
📛 almost half a million dollars to study transgender monkeys
Don't ever believe people who claim there's no room to cut spending. There's PLENTY of room. And we ought to do that before having any conversations about raising taxes.
I would actually like to see how it equals 900 billion. What you’re talking about is chicken feed. Funding for the arts, public radio, etc, is always easy targets and only .001% of the budget.
Does the us government need to be promoting lgbtq lessons in schools in Thailand? .001% of the us budget is a lot, especially when there's so much homeless in liberal run cities.
Big government helps to make big business.. Since big business to lobby big government for regulations.. Big business supported the lockdowns that messed mid and small businesses up and closed many down so that they could buy up the property.. Smaller government puts people's lives more into their own hands, and with proper capitalism, the one where the market is actually free, big businesses wouldn't gain so much monopoly..
Funny that bigger govt took down Microsoft before it “Google big”. Then Google and other too big to fail companies were given carte blanche to monopolize after we skeletonized federal govt.
Look the government can try whatever bullshit they want. I make money. I stack cash. I'm going to retire at 50 and buy a big ass Winnebago no matter who's president, has control of senate, or even state legislature. Nothing beyond my own mortality will stop that from happening.
@goaded Nah... when I look around at the world we live in, government bureaucracies are some of the most permanent structures in existence, while companies are constantly evolving to to accommodate their consumer base.
Also, the electorate is incredibly stupid about how they vote. At least when it comes to how they spend their money, they're a little more intentional.
@goaded Yeah, but what's the actual practice? Companies (in general) constantly seek to expand their market share to include more people, while governments serve the interests of campaign donors and lobbyists.
Big government does things like legislate if you can masturbate in your own free time. And also virtually every single government in in existence is bought off ALREADY.
@Dongie if someone wants to cut my throat then I want to break their spine over my knee and toss them into a bottomless chasm. I have no mercy for monsters.
What are you going to do about it? Keep voting for the party that brought you Citizens United and Clarence Thomas (who does enjoy his little holidays paid for), of course.
@goaded it’s funny how many people know this, but have more faith in corporations than elected officials. And then support dark money. It’s like Joel is an idiot who regurgitates Fox News lines.
@goaded If you tell someone “take this experimental gene therapy or lose your job” you’re forcing them. Your bullshit gaslighting won’t work here, boy. You should know that by now.
The shots encouraged the variants. Because they didn't prevent the spread. They're on what, shot #9 in three years now? I doubt even your dumb ass is still taking them.
@OddBeMe you sure about that? Seems to me we kept hearing Covid was affecting black people worse than white people. And we all know you ain’t black if you don’t vote democrat.
Okay, lets have a big goverment that is anti-sjw, and lets consider your update to be directed at people who rather would have companies like Blackrock run things than anti-sjws.
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