Economics is very simple. There is a way to make sure any economy performs as well as possible and that income is distributed as fairly as can possibly be achieved. To bring this about, all that is necessary is to is to use price to ration every thing people buy and sell. Then government needs to insure a level playing field and function the way of a baseball umpire. Take no position concerning the outcome of the game, just enforce the rules. Our current constitution allows government to be used to rig markets and transfer wealth and income. This would have to be changed.

Then there would have to be a way to enforce the provisions of our constitution. The Supreme Court does that, you say. That is completely by tradition. The Supreme court makes political decisions because its members are political appointees. No such authority is given the Supreme Court in the constitution. History shows the Supreme Court renders decisions in line with the political atmosphere at the time. When owning slaves was popular, slavery was legal. When Americans wanted to have abortions, abortion was made legal. When leadership wanted to put Japanese Americans in concentration camps, the constitutionality question was ignored.

When goods and services are rationed by price alone, that is what is called a free market system. So, if free markets are so good why is the concept not used? When an economic downturn occurs the damage being done along with the suffering is totally visible. The good being done by the price system is invisible. No one can see how resources are being re-allocated more efficiently. So everybody panics and a quick fix by government is opted for instead. Free markets take faith that they will work, The faith is lacking.

More importantly thought citizens are instinctively wired to believe government is the best way to fix anything. Possibly this was true early in the evolution process. Now it is excess baggage that hurts rather than help. It must be remember that less than 200 years ago people could own one another. Prior to this owning people was just part of life, not unusual at all. For most of history more people were owned than not owned. So, for most of history if a person wanted or needed something he asked his master. Leaders were not elected, they were just there and they were worshiped.

Nature has left us in a huge reality gap. Instinct trumps intellect and people instinctively believe government has powers it doesn’t have and never has had. With respect to the economy, there is no way people would keep looking to government to fix the economy over and over for all these years if it wasn’t instinctive to do it that way. In all of these years, in all of the countries in the world not one success has been recorded when a country, through government, has tried to fix or improve it’s economy. No species is dumb enough to punish itself over and over again unless it is due to an instinct that is left over from a prior era.

Here is The Grazin’s is good, another timely Curbside Jimmy tune, just right for this article.