Thursday, June 21, 2012

Is big government the answer?

We've been born into a world of big governments, and they are in control of many things. So much so that we have been conditioned to think that without them, a lot of "big" economic projects will never happen. Below are some examples of how the free market benefited the people tremendously, back at the time when government was very small and there were LESS regulations on the market:

Cornelius Vanderbilt offered steamboat services and reduced prices from $3 to $0.10. In some trips, he let people ride for free, but hope to make some money selling food on board to them. He used his rail-road company to deliver mail, and compete with another government-subsidized rail company. He did this at a quarter of the price, and kicked the subsidized company out of business.

Andrew Carnegie single-handedly reduced the price of steel from $160 a tonne to $17 a tonne.

John D. Rockefeller dropped the price of kerosene from $1 to $0.10.

Are we supposed to hate these rich people, because we were told that they sit on the world's wealth? Of course, those who got rich lobbying a powerful government for a share of the power ought to be condemned. But the problem is powerful government itself, not greedy businessmen. Without power, no one will be lobbying for it. Businessmen increases people's standards of living. Big government destroys wealth.

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