Rahn: Fire America’s Management

Cato Institute senior fellow Richard Rahn wrote in the Washington Times:

Assume you own stock in a company whose market share has fallen from approximately one-third of the industry 15 years ago to only one-quarter today, the company was racking up record losses and debt, and the management has proposed increasing the prices of its products while many competitors are cutting their prices. Would you vote to fire the management?

Rather than a company, the entity I have just described is the United States. The US has been losing market share as a percentage of global gross domestic product, in part, because many competitors, particularly in Asia, have been leading with pro-growth economic policies while the US is piling more taxes and regulations on the productive sectors of its economy. . . .

If those managing a company had acted as recklessly and irresponsibly as has Congress with the US economy, they rightly would be fired. Congress by its actions is driving away foreign capital, new and existing companies and jobs; burdening the people with excessive debt — and even providing an incentive for murder. Voters, who act as the shareholders of the US economy, have the responsibility to fire the “managers” (i.e., Congress) for their dereliction of duty. For the sake of the country, let’s hope they do so in November.