John Steele Gordon "Today we live in a world far beyond the imagination of those who were alive in 1607. The poorest family in America today enjoys a standard of living that would have been considered opulent 400 years ago. And for most of this time it was the United States that was leading the world into the future, politically and economically.
"This astonishing economic transformation provides rich lessons in examples of what to do and not do. Let me suggest five."
1. Governments Are Terrible Investors .... 2. Politicians Have Self-Interest Too ....3. Immigration is a Good Thing...4. Good Ideas Spread, Bad Ones Don’t....5. Markets Hate Uncertainty....
"Undoubtedly a big reason for that is the enormous uncertainty that has plagued the country since 2008. Will health care—one-sixth of the American economy—be taken over by the folks who run the post office? Will the Bush tax cuts be ended or continued? Will the corporate income tax go up or down? Will manufacturing get a special tax deal? Will so-called millionaires—who, when you listen carefully to what liberal politicians are saying, can earn as little as $200,000 a year—be forced suddenly to pay “their fair share”?
"Who knows? So firms and banks are postponing investment decisions until the future is clearer. Perhaps the clearing will happen on November 6." pdf of this article
Mr. Gordon's articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Forbes, Worth, National Review, Commentary, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He is a contributing editor at American Heritage, where he wrote the “Business of America” column for many years, and currently writes “The Long View” column for Barron’s. He is the author of several books, including Hamilton’s Blessing: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Our National Debt, The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power, and An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power.
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