Economics of This Country

The Deacon loves the mechanics of how our country works, and always has. A while back, though, he started to say "..but..." after saying that. Why? Unrestrained capitalism could not go unchecked forever, and we'd possibly be destroyed by it. So, the Deacon is a communist? Socialist? No, the Deacon believes in this country wholeheartedly. He believes in the survival of the fittest and the struggle through life that capitalism creates.

What does he mean by "unrestrained capitalism," isn't capitalism a free system, ergo, one without restraint? Sure, but so is anarchy, and, thinking of capitalism in political terms rather than economic, that is what unrestrained capitalism is, anarchy. With no guidelines, regulations, or oversight, there is nothing to stop a capitalistic mind, and, given that all can partake in the capitalist dream, that's not always a good thing. What we get with unrestrained capitalism is what we have seen over the past few months - people buying homes and real estate outside of their means, mortgage companies financing them without a care, and banks praying on both - unrestrained capitalism in all its glory.

So, to fix this, does Congress have to destroy our capitalist system? No. There is no doubt that there has to be some government injection of cash into the economy (infrastructure, please!), that there has to be stricter guidelines, regulations, and oversight, but we don't need to transform our economy, we just need to set up a perimeter around what can be done. Hopefully, the egotistical, out of touch people who hold Congressional office will have the balls to make this happen. The Deacon asks them, "Of what use is re-election if the homeless can't vote and the United States of America no longer exists?"