Or more specifically, a couple of news items from the last few days involving lemonade and cookies pretty well demonstrates why the economy is doing well in a few select places while being in the tank overall.
First, in Bethesda, Maryland parents were fined 500 dollars when their kids had the temerity to run an "un-authorized" lemonade (and other cold drinks) stand. In fact, the venture was in part a fundraising effort to boot. Talk about making lemons out of lemonade. Now if you're scoring at home, this stunning tale makes it Bureaucrats 1 Entrepreneurs 0 in blue-state Maryland.
Meanwhile, in Texas, Governor Rick Perry signed into law SB 81, making it legal for kids and grandmas to bake cookies and cupcakes for sale at home. Before this law was signed, it was not technically against an ordinance. Now it's Entrepreneurs 1 Bureaucrats 0 in red-state Texas.
Gee, with these divergent thought processes, I wonder which state might have performed better over the past few years with respect to private sector job creation. The answer of course is Texas.
And it's not because of a couple of drink stand jobs here or home baking jobs there will result from the ordinances and laws. It's about the entire notion of the role of government intervention in our economy. In Texas, and all over red-state America, the idea is that government's role in the economy is merely to foster an environment where businesses can prosper. This is a good thing of course, allowing businesses to create jobs and economic opportunities for the owners and employees and investors through the production of attractive goods and services for consumers. This win-win-win equation explains the engine that has fueled the economy of our nation for decades. This is Milton Friedman's compassion theory in practice. He would no doubt like SB 81.
In blue-state America, the notion is that government must manage every aspect of business to make sure rules are followed and that no one is taken advantage of by anyone at any time. It's the idea that highly educated central planners can create a better economy by empowering armies of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats who will interpret and enforce all of these wonderful ivory tower edicts from the smartest among us. As Friedman would ask sarcastically, just who "would be these angels" that could deem fairness from on high?
The answer of course would be those same some unnamed and unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats in faraway government buildings.
To understand why our economy is not in recovery and cannot possibly get there under this administration, it's even simpler than Friedman's pencil. Just compare the government view of lemonade stands in Maryland versus the government view of homemade cookie kitchens in Texas. Have some cookies and lemonade. It's all you have to know. It's so simple, even an Ivy Leaguer can do it.
READ MORE:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/obama_era_economic_stagnation_explained_by_lemonade_and_cookies.html
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