Fiscal or moral factors?

Some people think we have to choose between doing what is fiscally responsible, or morally right.  They think that choices by politicians should have 'morality' as a priority factor over financial responsibility.

But it is a false comparison. It's not about morals. It is about emotion & misplaced compassion. We can be compassionate for the jobs lost in the buggy whip manufacturing sector, but demanding govt to 'do something about it!' never works. They can subsidize the industry, even though it cannot compete in the open market, but to do that you have to take from other, productive segments of the economy, thereby punishing their success. Markets are fluid. Change happens. Evolve or go extinct. This is market based, global, natural selection at work. The more we can adapt & change with the trends, the better off we are as a society & economy. Rewards go to the smart & resourceful, rather than the lazy or scam artists. You make a widget with demand, you get rich. That is better than writing up a clever grant proposal for the feds to consider, then they take from someone else to give to you, just because you wrote up a good scam concept. Solyndra did this, as have thousands of other grantees who get 'free money' for some dubious business venture. They don't risk their own capital & labors, but the taxpayers.

Real production should be encouraged & rewarded. That is the basis for wealth & will build a positive trade balance & real gdp. We have been going the wrong way for years, & unless we turn it around, we will collapse. This is not complicated. Money does not grow on trees, but must be earned by producing, harvesting, mining, or creating something of value. Printing money to hand out is a recipe for collapse. That is what we're doing now, & it cannot last. Subsidizing failing, non productive, or counter productive sectors is also a drain on the real production of the country.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. ~Ronald Reagan