Recently, some have been opining about the “inequality” that is allegedly rampant in our great Republic and globally. Even our new Pope Francis has inserted himself in this never-ending discussion.  His thesis, the “Evangelii Gaudium” is simply described as, “unbridled” capitalism has enriched a few, but failed the poor. “We have to remember that the majority of our contemporaries are barely living from day to day, with dire consequences. A number of diseases are spreading. The hearts of many people are gripped by fear and desperation, even in the so-called rich countries. The joy of living frequently fades, lack of respect for others and violence are on the rise, and inequality is increasingly evident. It is a struggle to live and, often, to live with precious little dignity.”  Perhaps the Pope, the Vatican and many here should read the “Global Economy and Development” report from the Brookings Institute. The most important finding they report is the “rise of emerging economies has led to a dramatic fall in global poverty.”  It shows that between 2005 and 2010 the total of poor people around the word has fallen by nearly HALF A BILLION, from over 1.3 billion in 2005 to under 900 million in 2010. As the report states, “never before have so many people been lifted out of poverty over such a brief period of time, poverty reduction of this magnitude is unparalleled in history.”  And this, in the midst of the largest global recession in 70 years.  Another report, from the Center for Global Development, shows that “4.9 billion people—the considerable majority of the planet—[live] in countries where GDP has increased more than fivefold over 50 years. Those countries include India, with an economy nearly 10 times larger than it was in 1960, Indonesia (13 times), China (17 times), and Thailand (22 times larger than in 1960). Around 5.1 billion people live in countries where we know incomes have more than doubled since 1960, and 4.1 billion—well more than half the planet—live in countries where average incomes have tripled or more.”  In The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, a book that spans 800 pages and millennia of human development, Steven Pinker of Harvard University documents a tremendous decline in global violence. Pinker states, “Tribal warfare was nine times as deadly as war and genocide in the 20th century. The murder rate in medieval Europe was more than thirty times what it is today. Slavery, sadistic punishments, and frivolous executions were unexceptionable features of life for millennia, then were suddenly abolished. Wars between developed countries have vanished, and even in the developing world, wars kill a fraction of the numbers they did a few decades ago. Rape, hate crimes, deadly riots, child abuse—all substantially down.”  To touch on disease, the Kaiser Foundation reports that measles, polio and cholera have all but been eradicated. HIV/AIDS has been dramatically reduced because of antiretroviral therapies. In Africa primarily, almost 10 million people are being treated with ARV’s, this in large part from president George Bush and the Western worlds involvement.  Cancer rates, which have increased with longer life expectancies are beginning to decline. This also includes World Banks report that the growth of global life expectancy from 30 years in the 19th century to today’s global expectancy of 68 years is dramatically significant.  As much as many opine about the calamity in our world, the facts don’t bear them all out. Yes, there still is disequilibrium in the world but when you consider that the world’s population has more than doubled in the past 50 years, from 3 billion in 1960 to over 7 billion today, these dramatic improvements are encouraging.  What this also exposes is that we ARE in a global economy. Contrary to what many “isolationists” want you to believe, this is the future. The good news for the protectionists is that China’s economy is still smaller than the United States. The bad news is that China is between $300 billion and $1 trillion closer to overtaking the U.S. than previously thought. Estimates show that by 2020 China’s GDP will be $23 trillion compared with the U.S.’s $15 trillion. It’s most likely just a matter of months, rather than years, before China overtakes our economy as the biggest in the world. This will have far-reaching implications in terms of wealth and monetary policies are concerned.  A large part of our stagnation in the global economy can be placed directly on our outdated economic policies and beliefs. Our trade policies are nothing more than bureaucratic controls on tariffs and other “management” efforts, there is nothing “free” about our trade.  Regulations continue to consume our economy crippling it into disrepair and confusion. A true free-market hasn’t existed here for over a century. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Washington has created 81,883 regulations, ALMOST 9 PER DAY, over the last 20 years. I think the meme that our Congress hasn’t been engaged is proven to be nonsense by these numbers.  Contrary to the pundits whining, “unfettered capitalism” does NOT exist in America.  This does not come without tremendous strain on our economy. The total cost for Americans to comply with federal regulations was over $1.8 TRILLION in 2012! This is more than the GDP of Canada or Mexico.  The Anti-Democracy Index – the ratio of regulations issued to laws passed by Congress and signed by the president – stood at 29 for 2012. That’s 127 new laws and 3,708 new rules – or a new rule every 2 ½ hours.  These numbers are staggering. Entrepreneurism has been reduced to the elitists and wealthy who can afford to plow through the endless volumes of the Code of Federal Regulations to create new commerce. The average middle-class American has summarily been eliminated from the commerce creation he or she enjoyed before our government became the Leviathan it is today.  And many of you wonder why inequality exists? Maybe it’s because the government puts up one road block after another to prevent everyone but the “chosen few” that carry the label of “crony” to succeed. Many of us have shown the massive redistribution that the Clinton, Bush and Barrack Hussein administrations have created.  There are other problems complicit with the above examples. Our criminal progressive tax system must be repealed and replaced with a Flat, or preferably Fair, Tax system. Government has been shown to be the most ineffective allocator of capital. The most effective is the for-profit, followed by non-profits.  Unions must be less adversarial in their relationship with industry. No one benefits from wages, benefits and legacy costs pricing businesses out of the market or forcing them to outsource or offshore their production.  Our energy policy must be expanded to take advantage of our massive resources that can create commerce, jobs and the exports we need to dissolve our ongoing $500 billion trade deficit. We will never be able to reduce our deficits, let alone debts and unfunded liabilities, with this burden restraining our economy.  Finally, but most importantly, we MUST demand that our criminal government run public education system be totally reformed from the indoctrination camps it has become and allow our children to learn the necessary skills to compete in the new emerging global economy. Critical thinking, based on creativity and ingenuity, has been replaced with instructional adherence of programmed inputs. This will never give our students the chance they need to excel in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math disciplines that the new markets demand.  We can all understand the Popes concerns with global problems, he has a large flock he is responsible for. But the facts remain, the world is improving despite the arguments, what we need to do is become the leader in the 21st century economy which will be very different than past economies.  Government needs to become the silent partner in the American Dream the way our Founder’s and Framer’s envisioned. If not we will continue in our despondency and malaise.  This is not the American way.
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