The government will never pull us out of any financial abyss by spending money. 

by
L. D. Alford

The government will never pull us out of any financial abyss by spending money.  The idea that a government can make better decisions with money than the people is a canard that has been around a long time.  It relies on the theory that government spending can help an economy.  The problem is that the government has only tax dollars to spend.  Nearly all government money comes from taxation.  These taxes remove money from the economy and redistribute it to those the government wants to help.  To most educated in the basics of capitalism, this idea is a problem in itself.  How can the government know which industries, companies, or people to help?  The obvious answer is that it cannot.  “The study of economics is the use of scarce resources which have alternate uses.”   If any government could fulfill this purpose then nations like the Soviet Union, Vietnam, and North Korea would be super powers.  The Soviet Union is on the ash heap of history, Vietnam is a crippled economy, and North Korea can’t feed its own people. 

Less recognized are the great financial bailouts of somewhat free market nations.  An example is Japan in the late 1980s.  Japan used government bailouts and low interest rates to try to dig itself out of a property and banking problem similar to today.  They remained in a recession much like a depression for over 10 years.  Another example is the great depression of the 1920s.  The United States was still in a depression with 25 percent unemployment more than 5 years after nearly every other first world nation showed positive economic growth.  Only the productivity increases of World War 2 pulled us out of that problem—and success could not be attributed to the government. 

The reason government spending and bailouts do not work is because every tax dollar represents a dollar taken from the economy and reduced in value before it is returned.  Government administrative costs to manage income exceed 20 percent of the money collected.  In addition waste, fraud, and abuse are generally estimated to be more than 20 percent of government overhead.  At the best, for every dollar the government collects, it returns 60 cents.  And that is specifically why governments cannot spend themselves to success.  That is why controlled economies don’t work and will never work.  That is the reason capitalism works every time it is tried.  It is better for an economy if the government leaves the money in the hands of those who earned it instead of taxing and spending it.

How do we get out of the current financial crises?  Cut taxes.  Don’t spend the taxpayer’s money as government largess to industries, people, or businesses.  Let the people who earned the money and who know how to make the wise decisions the government is incapable of making in the first place, keep their dollars.  Our only hope is that our government stops spending the money they take from us by taxation and instead allow the people to grow the economy.

Lionel D. Alford, Jr. is an independent design engineer, program manager, and experimental test pilot currently working with and consulting for Defense Research Associates, EG&G, AirLaunch Systems, the University of Dayton Technical Institute and the University of Dayton. Alford is a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, and an experimental test pilot with over 6000 hours in more than 60 different kinds of aircraft.

He is an active member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Daedalians, the Airlift/Tanker Association, and the Air Force Association.

During his Air Force career, Alford served in four operational Air Force combat squadrons and led missions in North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Central America.

He lived in Germany as a Forward Air Controller flying the OV-10A Bronco and supported the 1/16, 1st Infantry Division US Army. As a C-21A (Lear 35) Instructor Pilot, he was the pilot for the CINCSAC (Commander in Chief Strategic Air Command). He led the Training Division of the 317th Tactical Airlift Wing during Desert Storm/Shield and trained tactical airlift pilots to fly the C-130 in critical airlift and special operations missions in Europe, Central America, and South West Asia. Based on his flight experience and his M.S. Engineering degree, Alford was selected to attend the USAF Test Pilot School.

After graduation, he was the chief test pilot for many critical aircraft programs. He made the first flight and was the program manager for an extensively modified Air Force Sabreliner. While stationed at Edwards Air Force Base, he managed and was the senior evaluator for the Air Force T-39 fleet and ran the Air Force Testing Commercial Aircraft for Military Applications (TCAMA) office. He was a test pilot for the newest Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) aircraft and the Chief of the T&E Division overseeing test for all nine AFSOC aircraft types and all AF rotary-wing and tilt-wing aircraft. Lieutenant Colonel Alford worked in Headquarters Air Force Material Command as the Chief Test and Evaluation Policy Manager for Air Force developmental test. He was the Chief of System Safety Engineering for the Mobility Systems System Program Office at the Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

He is a prolific writer and a dynamic speaker who has published and presented over 40 papers and articles in international forums and journals. He is the author of three historical fiction novels, Centurion 2008, Aegypt 2008, and The Second Mission published in 2003. Alford was selected three times by the AF to compete at NASA for the position of pilot astronaut. Alford is married to the former Tammy Nix. They have four children: Tanna, Christin, Erin, and Devon.

Websites
http://www.LionelAlford.com
http://www.LDAlford.com