Thread: why is it that Americans are unaware of the intense intertwining of gov and economy?

This question was given to our class and we are to have a discussion in class. I am unable to grasp what he means. I really want to be able to provide my group with information so that we can get a good grade. Sadly I was chosen as the leader and must give my members the information we are to talk about. Can anyone please help?

why is it that so many Americans are unaware of the intense intertwining of government and the economy--of the public and private. How often have you heard it said that the government should keep out of running private businesses? or that government should stay out of trying to manage the economy that the private businesses, for example, are completely on their own and do not rely on the public sector at all?

But all private businesses do not succeed through private effort alone. Their goods and customers get to them on streets paid for by tax payers and designed an built under government supervision. The water in their sinks and bathrooms is available, clean and safe because of the government. Their employees are trained and educated in the governments public schools paid for by the tax payers. their customers have a reasonable amount of faith they wont become sick or injured by their food or products because the government regulates and tests food and drugs for purity and safety. the commercial law code is the creation of the government and the governments courts enforce the contracts signed between businesses and their customers and between businesses. Private property itself is a government program- a set of rights and obligations defined and enforced by law. the very money - legal tender - that businesses handle is the creation of the government. the government provides police and fire protection funded by the taxpayers. The freedoms that businesses enjoy are protected by the governments army, navy, air force, marines, and coast guard - all at public expense.

At one literal level because it is too complex

Keeping it very simple , increasingly Government is obliged to use Banks to buy their debt .
In the EU , for example , and right now , the European Central Bank has specifically created a three year cheap credit line so that Banks can buy Sovereign Debt . Poorly capitalised Banks actually buy back Sovereign debt which means they have to borrow more to re-capitalise .
A total effing Fairy Story .
0ne trillion Euros in the first two months .
Not serious . Cataclysmic .
All Western economies are out of control . Totally and utterly out of control .
There are no ways to ever payoff debt OTHER than by notionally buying those debts .
Clearly an absurdity .
The intertwining of all parties is inevitable
The Government is Banks and Banks are the Economy .
Period

I am not sure how it is in the USA, but in Denmark-Norway I have noticed that essentially all the good jobs are in private companies that get contracts from the government, either on the national level or local. There are also good jobs in electric companies, because they are granted monopolies so can ensure high profits. But there is so much government involvement with the electric companies, they are really much like a private-government hybrid. So even the suppossedly "private" sector jobs are in reality reliant on government spending and regulation.

Americans do not have the money to hire lobbiest.

Either they dont have the money or they don't have the intelligence to care.

This is one of the reasons why I don't like banks. It is my opinion that banks cause every recession or depression. The Government often times tries to save its own skin in order to get re-elected so they can keep making money. People tend to blame the government now a days for the economy when really, yes, it is the government's fault, but, the blame usually (at least in the United States) lays at their feet for electing officials who think in that manner. I'm of the opinion that the more the government is out of economy the better.

Originally Posted by xspook

This question was given to our class and we are to have a discussion in class. I am unable to grasp what he means. I really want to be able to provide my group with information so that we can get a good grade. Sadly I was chosen as the leader and must give my members the information we are to talk about. Can anyone please help?

why is it that so many Americans are unaware of the intense intertwining of government and the economy--of the public and private. How often have you heard it said that the government should keep out of running private businesses? or that government should stay out of trying to manage the economy that the private businesses, for example, are completely on their own and do not rely on the public sector at all?

But all private businesses do not succeed through private effort alone. Their goods and customers get to them on streets paid for by tax payers and designed an built under government supervision. The water in their sinks and bathrooms is available, clean and safe because of the government. Their employees are trained and educated in the governments public schools paid for by the tax payers. their customers have a reasonable amount of faith they wont become sick or injured by their food or products because the government regulates and tests food and drugs for purity and safety. the commercial law code is the creation of the government and the governments courts enforce the contracts signed between businesses and their customers and between businesses. Private property itself is a government program- a set of rights and obligations defined and enforced by law. the very money - legal tender - that businesses handle is the creation of the government. the government provides police and fire protection funded by the taxpayers. The freedoms that businesses enjoy are protected by the governments army, navy, air force, marines, and coast guard - all at public expense.

There are different types of government. Most of what government provides is provided by local or State government, roads, schools, water, etc.. The freedoms that citizens and business enjoy are rights that are protected "from" government intrusion. Government has some legitimate duties to protect citizens from things like monopoly, fraud, and illegal force but the federal government has abdicated it's last duty by now requiring a citizen to purchase a product (health insurance) which is illegal force. Government's are not supposed to do those things you could not do legally yourself but have consistently overridden that duty. Government intrusion happens when government decides to interfere in the rights that it is supposed to protect, such as the government institutionalized racism of the past.

People have banded together to accomplish those things that cannot be done individually. That is the purpose of government. Business flourished before roads. Legal tender was created regionally by banks before government. People ate food long before government regulations. The house I live in built in 1873 originally had a well and an outhouse.

When it comes to freedom to produce, thrive, or fail, the government should stay out of things but as you have seen, have decided to pick winners and losers. We have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness which government should not try to provide as it now tries to.

We pay for government so should expect government "services" in return, that is the contract. Government has a place which is to be as limited as possible to provide the most liberty possible.

There is indeed a huge intertwinning. Many of the corporations that provide well-paying jobs to middle class Americans are actually get most og their business from contracts with government, either on the local or nation level. Defense, construction, companies that manufacture traffic lights, or even the piping for water and natural gas. Do not forget the electic utility providers, which often have been granted a monopoly and are heavily regulated by the state.

I would guess that nearly a third, perhaps more, of the American economy is government contracts to private companies.

And then there is the educational system. The economy of many communities in the poor inner cities in the USA are almost entirely reliant on teacher salaries injecting money inot their local community. No wonder the people in the inner city fight so hard for increased federal funding! They want people outside their impoverished city to be taxed so that their teachers can earn more money. Take away the teaching jobs and there will not really be anything left.