Obama's visit to Alcoa

President Obama will visit the Alcoa plant in Riverdale (IA) and speak on manufacturing and job creation. While a visit to the Quad Cities area by any President is always welcome, the visit will most likely include an plethora of platitudes rooted in economic fallacies.

While columnists, talking heads, and pundits are focused 24/7 on the partisan finger pointing, cheerleading, and demagogy, little emphasis is placed on the basic economic theory underlying the economic policies of the President.

Our country desperately needs a strong manufacturing base. A manufacturing base is essential to a prosperous society, wealth accumulation, and rising standard of living.

But what economic policies will ensure this desired reality? Manufacturing requires:

• contract and property rights
• limited barriers to entry
• savings and capital accumulation
• sound money

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Preserving the rights of property owners was the original premise for creating government when this country was settled and later founded. Today, one is treated with disdain and scorn when mentioning the common law of “property rights”. If the government continues to penalize, tax, and regulate those who acquires property through voluntary exchange and original appropriation, what is the incentive to work let alone start a manufacturing plant?

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Economics of the I-74 bridge

Living in the Quad-Cities, one is undoubtedly familiar with the infamous bridge connecting Moline, IL and Bettendorf, IA. Usually when "the bridge" is the subject of conversation, one can assume an anecdote will be raised regarding one or more bad experiences on “the bridge”.

The majority of the hostilities involving the bridge pertain to the seemingly perpetual construction, maintenance, and congestion which the DOT and NTSB has jurisdiction. While many people will, in good faith, assume that the problem stems from an insufficient lack of funding of the I-74 bridge and other public infrastructure, good economic theory tells a different story.

The simple and systemic problem exists from the fact a monopoly (i.e. government) owns and operates the bridges and interstate highway system. Government is (in and of itself) a monopoly on force. No matter whether the consumers of the good are satisfied, money and resources are extracted from the private sector to fund this so-called "public good".

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