Week 14 Reflection

This week we got to watch a video from C-SPAN that Burt Folsom led. The Constitution was created to make a somewhat limited government. In America, we value our entrepreneurs and our economy and by this we are able to be on top economically. Dr. Folsom said that this was what the founders had wanted. Something that he mentioned was that we used to have no debt, and to me that is insane. I honestly didn't think that we were debt free. It is hard to see that because we have so much debt right now. Dr. Folsom also mentioned that the government wanted to be involved in the economy because England was moving higher than the United States was. I truly had no idea that this was why the government started involving themselves into the economy. I feel as if this isn't necessarily a truly free way of running the economy. I wonder what things would be like if the government never got involved. I think a lot of reason behind America wanting to compete with England is due to the tensions we had from early colonization. Edward Collins in the late 1800s, wanted to start a steamship company. This is when congress decided to subsidize. He needed a lot of money to start this, and the congress kept giving him the money. This was kind of a dirty trick that Collins was doing. What is interesting is that Vanderbilt came in and wanted to do half of what Collins was asking for. However, Congress decided to go with the more expensive subsidy. This confused me because wouldn't they rather save money? I know I would. What I thought was interesting was that Vanderbilt didn't receive a subsidy, yet he was able to do pretty much what he wanted with his company. That is what I like about market entrepreneurship. This way, you are able to have more freedom with your company. With political entrepreneurship it is more restrictive. In fact, Vanderbilt ended up beating Collins in the steamboat business. Like I said, I think this is due to the fact that Vanderbilt was able to do what he wanted. This is why I wonder what the economy would be like if the government didn't involve themselves in the economy. Overall I am getting that the reason why the government got involved in the economy was due to competition, both internationally and domestically.