On December 25, 2012, Bruce Bartlett writes in The New York Times:
In the 40th anniversary edition of his book, “Capitalism and Freedom,” Milton Friedman advised conservatives to use crises as opportunities to advance their agenda. “Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change,” he contended.
Thus Republicans are now using the fiscal impasse to try to raise the age for Medicare and reduce Social Security benefits by changing the index used to adjust them for inflation. They know that such programs will be easier to abolish in the future if the number of people who qualify can be reduced and benefits are cut so that privatization becomes more attractive.This is foolish and reactionary. Moreover, there are sound reasons why a conservative would support a welfare state. Historically, it has been conservatives like the 19th century chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, who established the welfare state in Europe. They did so because masses of poor people create social instability and become breeding grounds for radical movements.
In postwar Europe, conservative parties were the principal supporters of welfare-state policies in order to counter efforts by socialists and communists to abolish capitalism altogether. The welfare state was devised to shave off the rough edges of capitalism and make it sustainable. Indeed, the conservative icon Winston Churchill was among the founders of the British welfare state.
American conservatives, being far more libertarian than their continental counterparts, reject the welfare state for both moral and efficiency reasons. It creates unhappiness, they believe, and inevitably becomes bloated,undermining incentives and economic growth.
Of course, this op-ed is oblivious to the obvious solution, which is to extend OWNERSHIP of productive capital to EVERY American simultaneously with the growth to the economy. Thus, EVERY American would over time become financially self-reliant through their income-producing capital estate, be in a financial position to support via taxation the common social benefits of government, and be far less dependent on taxpayer-supported (deficit and national debt) government welfare, open and concealed.
The solution is to enact the Capital Homestead Act ( http://www.cesj.org/homestead/index.htm and http://www.cesj.org/homestead/summary-cha.htm)
Sign the Petition at http://signon.org/sign/reform-the-federal-reserve.fb23?source=c.fb&r_by=3904687
Sign the WhiteHouse.gov petition at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/reform-federal-reserve/PhY3Jswk
