Week 14 Reflection -- Government Involvement Turned Bad

In a conference lecture given by Dr. Burt Folsom, he discusses how the founders limited the power of government when creating the Constitution in order to value individual liberty and individuality. I feel that this idea came from a good intention, however I feel that government involvement does not limit individuality or liberty, when considering all things legal, just and fair. I think that government involvement is meant to make things equal and right, and therefore is not an infringement on liberty when considering legal liberty. Dr. Folsom discusses how when government involvement was very limited there was no national debt and a surplus of money, and thus when government involvement increased we reached a large amount of national debt and taxes. I think that this fact is very interesting, as I would have never realized that the cause of the national debt getting so out of control almost would be due to the increase of government regulation, but I feel that it almost kind of makes sense why this would happen. Dr. Folsom continues on to discuss how the government began to subsidize for companies (like the steamboat companies) in order to "catch up" with other countries in the market and then the government would sort of diminish their control. I do feel that this situation creates sort of a give and take, as it gives our country and economy a push in the market, and also creates openings for business to start, as the competition was too strong for any other countries to even attempt at. But at the same time it does add the government involvement, and therefore leaves a lot of situations under government control. I do feel that in this aspect the benefits outweigh the consequences or negatives, because increasing market competition benefits both the consumers and producers of the market. When Dr. Folsom discusses the steamship dilemma with the producer taking advantage of government subsidies, I feel that this is sort of a natural consequence to government help and involvement. People are always going to take advantage of situations, and sometimes it cannot be helped and it is not necessarily the fault of the entity getting taken advantage of. However, Dr. Folsom discusses how even when the government was presented with a lower offer, they rejected it which seems to contradict my thoughts on the government getting taken advantage of sort of blindly. This debate Dr. Folsom mentions exemplifies the difference between government operated businesses and individual entrepreneurs, and how the individual entrepreneurs beat out the government sponsored businesses despite the lack of money. Throughout this talk, Dr. Folsom illustrated that government involvement did nothing but impede and hinder other, more efficient and working businesses and producers. This talk honestly completely changed my perspective, however I do feel that some government involvement can be somewhat beneficial to create competition in the market.