Awful Event

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

   "Unfit ... unworthy ... appalling .. unpredictable ... terrifying ... He must be stopped."
   These are a few of the words used by The Economist, one of the world's great news publications, as it opposed Donald Trump's campaign to become President of the United States (http://www.economist.com).
   In its latest edition, editors of The Economist write that "it is difficult to imagine any candidate less suited to the consequence of winning a general election, namely governing."
   This follows a Page One story in The New York Times of Friday Feb. 26 detailing the hiring practices of Mar-A-Lago, the Florida resort owned by Trump. It seems that the hotel resorts to hiring many foreign workers as it bypasses local job seekers. While it may be that some of the American applicants are unqualified, as Trump claims, the variance between the number of openings and the number of local workers hired compared to those supplied by overseas recruiters is noteworthy.
   Expect Trump to dismiss these reports as trash perpetrated by publications that are losers, not worth the paper they're printed on, and (pick a derogatory term or three). But given the choice of believing any politician (especially an entertainer-turned-politician) or a well established news publication, we'll take the newspaper every time.
   Meanwhile, government data released Friday indicate that the economy continues to grow and personal income of American workers continues to rise. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased at an annualized rate of 1 percent in the fourth quarter, and both personal income and disposable personal income rose by 0.5 percent in January, according to government statistics.

   Yet Republican candidates repeat their chant of impending disaster and the incompetence of current leaders. For those who have been paying attention since the end of the Great Recession seven years ago, the warnings of "economic doldrums and oppressive regulation" ring hollow.
   And as noted by economist Robert Reich in his new book, "Saving Capitalism," "Few ideas have more profoundly poisoned the minds of more people than the notion of a 'free market' into which government intrudes." On the contrary, Reich maintains, "There can be no 'free market' without government" because a civilized society needs rules, and it is government that generates rules.
   "Market forces," on the other hand, only cause chaos and poverty, enriching the already rich and worsening the plight of all others.
   In short, government is essential to keep a market, as well as customers and providers, free.


   If it ain't broke, don't fix it.