10,000 Years of Freedom

by

Ed Dedelow

Seeking political solutions to government excess is playing Russian roulette with the future. The problem with government is that there are too many politicians running it. And, they will continue to govern until we put philosophical ideals in the background and precede them with standards based in mathematical analysis. We need solutions that can be used for the next Ten Thousand years. I believe unequivocally in the existence of basic economic law.

People, whether right or left, eventually explain their beliefs with philosophical idealism. America's Founding Fathers created a Constitution that gave us a road map to freedom, but nowhere in the Constitution is there a road map for economic development. The Constitution neither included the terms Capitalism or Free Enterprise nor, excluded the words Socialism and Communism. Unless we define explicit economic laws that limit us to demonstrable concepts, Capitalism, Communism and Socialism are left on the same plane, with an incremental and inevitable drift towards the latter.

Surgeons can perform intricate heart procedures through insertions in the groin, yet economists have not devised generally accepted procedures to stabilize and grow an economy. Better health, the poor, the environment and preservation of nature are key political issues. Unfortunately, solutions to these problems are derived via politics based in either misguided philosophy or leadership that legislates to satisfy a diverse "enemy of my enemy is my friend" based constituency.

Too many people are resigned to the ultimate downfall of freedom reflected in the often repeated and unsupported Benjamin Franklin quote: "When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." We do not need a defeatist attitude that accepts this as our eventual downfall. What we need are answers that will ensure Freedom for the next 10,000 years.

Socialism is the last challenge to individual rights. It is constantly and incrementally encroaching on our freedom. Socialism is a cancer that grows and eventually destroys its host and that host is freedom. We must protect against this, and to do that we need economic law.

What can the math show?

1. Wealth cannot be divided: Wealth can be destroyed by confiscation or excessive taxes. In the extreme, if government can confiscate all assets, assets have no value. High taxes and regulation correspondingly reduce an asset's value, the prospects of investment and the ability to replace assets. When businesses are subjected to increasing taxes, the only avenue for survival is a reduction of labor costs. Thus, when taxes increase or regulation is imposed, the money politicians think is being divided really comes from the workers, not the owners. In other words, dividing the wealth involves taking from the working/producing group and giving it to a politician's favored few. It is merely a means to buy votes. The "division of wealth" causes an endless cycle of need - followed by politician's greed - followed by a greater need.

Since the Great Society of the 1960s, nearly 50 years ago, politicians have vigorously legislated to divide the wealth with the result that we now have an even greater division between rich and poor. Had the money and effort been expended on expanding the economy, I doubt anyone on earth would be starving and the Cold War would have ended 10 years earlier. Our example would have established the guidance to solve the earth's difficulties.

2. The burden of government falls on the backs of the working population. Businesses are rewarded for managing production. Part of production is the burden of government and, as such, businesses profit from the government burden. Entire industries are created from the management of government imposed obligations.

3. A developed country should balance its trade. The United States provides for far too many of its needs with imports and pays for them with paper dollars. This has worked in a world needing a currency; the world, however, has grown weary of the exchange.

Other concepts that can be proven include:

2. Government is the primary cause of inflation -

3. Socialism cannot work -

4. A countries production is limited by the availability of labor, not capital -

The power of mathematics is exemplified in the Return on Investment (ROI) computation wherein we determine the feasibility of future economic expansion or business survivability. The costs a business incurs must produce profits. When government imposes costs through taxes and regulation, those costs are factored into the computation to determine the potential profitability of a venture. Survivability of the venture is dependent on the open market where we find the only true democracy. That democracy is found at Wal-Mart and any other place where each of us "votes" on tomorrow's products. When government imposes itself either through taxes, tax laws or regulation, that democracy is surrendered to the will of the state. Too much of the private economy depends on and profits from the ability to manage government obligations.

Politicians attempt to "interpret" the desires of the people. They "think" they know what the people want. Henry Ford said: "If I had asked people what they wanted they would have asked for a better horse". I do not believe in "think tanks" where politicians, either right or left, sit around blaming different factions for the ills of society and then promise to follow the "will of the people." A good business is run by imaginative people who follow business procedures, concepts, and the rules of accounting. Businesspeople rely on math. The intelligentsia of our colleges and universities has given up looking for the math or discovering why the division between rich and poor has grown. They have relegated our future to teaching ideologies. Ideologies are no different than superstitions as both are subject to interpretation. If freedom is to be guaranteed for the next 10,000 years or, even the next 10, we must support our decisions on the chalk board and cross reference with mathematical formulas.

The reliance on conjecture, is a crude answer to difficult problems. Communism, Socialism, and modern day concepts of Capitalism and Conservatism are concocted solutions for the operation of an economy. How advanced are we if we have not formulated procedures for the economy's operation? We live in the freest, most advanced, most educated, and wealthiest civilization that has ever existed on earth yet, there are no prescribed economic laws that our leaders can look to for guidance. The Founding Fathers were told this democracy would not work. We are obligated to discover why it does work.