Who among the various candidates, Democratic or Republican, truly believes that economic scarcity is best solved by free markets? Indeed!
It is not clear that any of the candidates now running for the Republican nomination, other than Ron Paul, have any real faith in free market solutions to the problems of economic scarcity. No one is really proposing returning to free market principles. The battle ground seems much narrower -- personal and business tax rates, minor amendations to Obamacare, support for the Keystone project -- but not much else really.
The most likely outcome is a Romney candidacy. As much as that will be presented as the free market alternative to President Obama, in truth there is not much daylight between Romney and Obama. Neither seem to understand the fundamental economic malaise of modern America, nor to understand the root cause. One way you can tell that neither "get it" is the constant China-bashing that comes from the White House and the campaign trail.
Anybody that thinks China is at the heart of our economic stagnation believes in a fantasy. China is not the culprit. China is doing the right thing for its people by creating the largest expansion in free markets in the history of the world. The result -- economic prosperity for hundreds of millions of people who lived in subjection and poverty a mere generation ago.
What has the West accomplished in the last couple of generations? Growth of government mainly and a declining status of the middle class whose savings rate has collapsed to zero in the US and whose work ethic has slipped into the mud. Absent a savings rate and a work ethic, no amount of government waste will pull the US out of its malaise.
So, who speaks up for free markets. Sadly, no one except Ron Paul and he's not on a path to the White House, given his isolationist outlook on foreign policy.
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