KEEPING FREE IN THE FREE MARKET
How many times have you read a news story about taxpayers finding themselves on the hook for a baseball stadium, or government money being spent to subsidize a company or industry? How often, especially in recent years, have we seen taxpayers backstop risky corporate practices? In this age when freedom is under attack, we can’t lose sight of the fact that the free market is also being harmed by government intrusion. In this edition of Majority Points, we’ll take a look at real threats to the free market and how we as conservatives need to be vigilant in defense of it.
The strength of a nation isn’t just measured by the size of its military. It is its economy that matters even more. The United States has had the most prosperous economic system in the world because our Founders sought to keep government out of the way of private enterprise, individual ingenuity and innovation. Today, however, at the local, state and federal level, government is trying to rewrite the rules of the American economy, playing favorites with select industries while forcing everyone else to foot the bill.
One persistent example doesn’t come out of Washington. It’s a local and state issue - Taxpayer-funded sports stadiums and arenas. Over the past two decades cities, states and counties spent more than $15 billion on stadiums - not counting subsidies like lease breaks, property tax exemptions and the use of tax-exempt government bonds. Of the dozens of new stadiums that have been built since 1989 in the U.S., only eight of them were done without some form of public financing. The problem is that these are often net negative investments while adding to public debt. Stadium projects often create temporary jobs but don’t shrink unemployment in areas where they are built. All the while, the teams are making money off the backs of the taxpayer.
Perhaps one of the more costly attempts at government to chip away at the free market is what Washington is doing to create a so-called green economy. I say create, because they are trying to manufacture it from thin air – oh and of course your hard-earned money. Despite efforts of both parties to provide a wide range of tax subsidies for everything from natural gas exploration to electric cars the public isn’t responding. Yes, Americans want more secure, more efficient energy solutions – but trying to manufacture a marketplace for electric cars people don’t want with taxpayer money is simply anti-American. It’s something the Soviets would do. Giving $1 billion to Solyndra and other companies whose technology, products and services are not in demand is a blatant manipulation of the free market. More of your money out the window.
Overall the American Free Market is being disassembled by corporate welfare initiatives at every turn – including the subsidies that go to big agribusinesses. Corporate welfare in the federal budget costs taxpayers almost $100 billion a year in direct subsidies, tax breaks, and all kinds of creative loan programs. Everybody is getting into the act. Even Apple tried to get $2 million to help pay for their new superstore in Grand Central Terminal. Because conservatives are keeping more of a watchful eye on this kind of waste, they didn’t get it, but billions go out the door each year to help companies do what they should be doing on their own. From grants from HUD to expand a brewery to money for wineries from the Department of Agriculture for marketing, the government isn’t fostering a level playing field. It's playing favorites often for the benefit of major campaign contributors.
We must remain vigilant in our defense of the free market. Corporate welfare and attacks on the free market are weakening our economy and burdening our families so a privileged few can make a killing. It is the latter day version of separate but equal – and we know it doesn’t work. The most important thing we can do is let our elected officials know taxpayers won’t be used to prop up companies. Then we need to aggressively support lower tax rates which would allow America’s companies to keep more of their money to grow and invest. Only then will we create a stronger business climate again and do what the Founders wanted – keep government out of the private sector.
Keep America Free,
Ned Ryun
