The Economy
Inflation is out of control. Food and gas prices are ridiculous. Will we see a food shortage? Perhaps. The government is too involved in the lives of its people. We are headed in the wrong direction. Our education system hasn’t done enough to teach students about the correlation between the field of economics and the role it plays in our lives. So I thought I would turn to the renowned economist, Lawrence Kudlow, for his insight. Kudlow has recently co-authored a book with Brian Domitrovic called JFK and the Reagan Revolution. I’ve always been a fan of our former President Reagan but over the last several years I have become a supporter of our thirty-fifth President John F. Kennedy. Kudlow himself is brilliant having earned honorary doctorate degrees, was a former chief economist and senior managing director of Bear Stearns & Company, and worked under Reagan during Reagan’s first term as president. He was the associate director for economics and planning, Office of Management and Budget. So naturally I had to pick up Kudlow and Domitrovic’s book.
Now I’m not too far into the book, but the introduction is enough to make you see both the self-induced problems of our economy and the need for less government. Just several pages into the book and I’m already wanting to scream or pull my hair out. I’m at least shaking my head. Could it be that generations of Americans haven’t been taught the importance of economics? Could it be that capitalism and socialism have been misrepresented, like today where good is evil and evil is good sort of thing? Kudlow and Domitrovic state two key truths on page 8 of the book:
The engine of economic growth is the private sector, and
The government’s most important responsibility is to make sure growth happens and this is done by getting out of the way.
On page 10, the authors point out that “we have a model to follow as we seek to return to being a nation of growth. It is the John F. Kennedy-Ronald Reagan model. Growth is central to what we are about.” Yes, it is!
A book review of JFK and the Reagan Revolution will be printed in the third quarter edition of the Education Central newspaper next month.