Gulliver met the Lilliputians: America today

I can't help see America much like Gulliver in his travels.  When he first reached Lilliput he is tied up by hundreds of Lilliputians who are only 6 inches tall.

America threw-off our four greatest restrictions on commerce in about 1960 when we finally destroyed in one short period: the hereditary upper class, our retail price control laws, our extensive barriers to imported goods and our 'white Europeans only' immigration laws. 

With those new commercial freedoms our society was poised to explode with growth.  The explosive growth finally came when Ronald Reagan reduced taxes and government regulations. Our economy burst it seams when the costs of the Cold War were dropped significantly by the mid 1990's. Growth was astounding to everyone.

While we have had more than a decade of astounding productivity growth too from 1992 to 2005, we are again in a period of severely restrained growth for the past four years.  Why?

It is the Lilliputians.  Steadily, cumulatively since the first burst of commercial freedom in 1960 the Lilliputians (often referred to by me as Neanderthal Lefties) have been putting tiny binders and ropes on our great engine of commerce.  Starting a  business means paying a whole array of taxes, penalties and meeting endless restrictions and barriers.  Running a business means dealing with even more pernicious, daily, bureaucratic obstructions.

The Lilliputians have us tied down. (I love this graphic.)

The San Francisco Bay Bridge was built in 3 years in 1935, today half of it is being replaced in 12 years.  In the next blog I will list some of the restrictions we need to remove to promote our commercial exuberance.