Buchanan's predictions are, unfortunately, even more pertinent today. To this list I would add (and it interweaves with many of these items) the pervasive welfare state and mentality. Workforce participation, for example, was above 66% throughout the late 80s, 90s, and through 2009 but now struggles to stay above 62% (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART/). In fact, labor participation in the U.S. is even below the OECD average (https://data.oecd.org/emp/labour-force-participation-rate.htm). It is nearly impossible to find people in this country, including me, who do not receive some kind of illicit "benefits" from the state--social security, Medicare, SNAP, government contracts, student loans--because the welfare system has succeeded in creating dependence.
As you note, the Fed is a prime contributor to this and the aforementioned problems, and it gets to operate largely in the dark. I know of few people who are even aware of what the Fed does, let alone how it impacts their lives every day. At least congresspeople may get irate phone calls and emails from their constituents, but I doubt Jay Powell gets much hate (or fan) mail from ordinary Americans.
Absolutely re: the welfare state. All presidents in recent history are guilty of perpetuating that, but it makes you feel a particular contempt for FDR and LBJ.
The most obvious and detrimental impacts of the welfare state can be seen in the poor and minority groups. Blacks, in particular, which I wrote about some time ago here:
Thank you for that link; another great article. Of course, as you note in the article, Thomas Sowell has written so much about this issue, too, and its effects on minority groups. One of my favorite Sowell quotes is, "When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”
And I agree about FDR and LBJ. Two masters of telling people what they want to hear, especially the poor and the elderly, and we see the problems that pandering has wrought.
Buchanan's predictions are, unfortunately, even more pertinent today. To this list I would add (and it interweaves with many of these items) the pervasive welfare state and mentality. Workforce participation, for example, was above 66% throughout the late 80s, 90s, and through 2009 but now struggles to stay above 62% (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART/). In fact, labor participation in the U.S. is even below the OECD average (https://data.oecd.org/emp/labour-force-participation-rate.htm). It is nearly impossible to find people in this country, including me, who do not receive some kind of illicit "benefits" from the state--social security, Medicare, SNAP, government contracts, student loans--because the welfare system has succeeded in creating dependence.
As you note, the Fed is a prime contributor to this and the aforementioned problems, and it gets to operate largely in the dark. I know of few people who are even aware of what the Fed does, let alone how it impacts their lives every day. At least congresspeople may get irate phone calls and emails from their constituents, but I doubt Jay Powell gets much hate (or fan) mail from ordinary Americans.
Thanks for another insightful article.
Absolutely re: the welfare state. All presidents in recent history are guilty of perpetuating that, but it makes you feel a particular contempt for FDR and LBJ.
The most obvious and detrimental impacts of the welfare state can be seen in the poor and minority groups. Blacks, in particular, which I wrote about some time ago here:
https://mtsobserver.substack.com/p/malcolm-x-and-the-white-liberal
Thank you for that link; another great article. Of course, as you note in the article, Thomas Sowell has written so much about this issue, too, and its effects on minority groups. One of my favorite Sowell quotes is, "When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”
And I agree about FDR and LBJ. Two masters of telling people what they want to hear, especially the poor and the elderly, and we see the problems that pandering has wrought.