Richard J Grant

Published in The Tennessean, Sunday, May 27, 2012 and Forbes with archives .    by Richard J. Grant     Listening to the pundits debate over which presidential candidate would be best at “creating jobs” is a distraction. From a governmental perspective, job creation is at best a passive activity. Otherwise, government intervention destroys jobs and wealth. When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney claimed that his business activities created up to 100,000 jobs, it was relatively easy to see what he meant. As a result of business decisions in which he was involved, the affected businesses grew such that, at some point in time, their operations employed 100,000 people. But most business startups fail; and if they must fail, then the sooner the better. Pursuit of an unworkable idea uses up more resources than it is worth. Losses are society’s way of saying, “We would rather you not do this.” There are better ways to use your time and resources. Amo...

Published in The Tennessean , Sunday, May 20, 2012 and Forbes with archives . by Richard J. Grant Athens was not built in a day. Whatever its geographical advantages and disadvantages throughout the centuries, the attitudes and decisions of its citizens have played no small part in its fate to the present day. Although we might wish to look fondly on Greek contributions to philosophy and culture, recent political choices have wrought economic and cultural consequences that have made the word “Greece” synonymous with “failure.” As if to demonstrate that there are no Third World countries, but only Third World governments, recent Greek governments have raised expectations and spent far more than they are capable of collecting as tax revenue. The corruption and economic stagnation that accompany the growth of any government’s reach and power, untempered by respect for private property rights, now threaten all those foolish enough to promise bailout money. Many of the same people...

Published in The Tennessean , Sunday, May 13, 2012 and Forbes with archives . by Richard J. Grant A reader asks why people believe that “the printing of money by the U.S. government is such a bad idea.” It seems to her that it would not cause inflation “in a society that is glutted with goods, services, capacity and unemployed people as is America today.” Let us set aside for a moment the question of how you can inflate without causing inflation and what it means to be “glutted with goods” in a world of scarcity. She asks a very important question: “What if the government simply created new money to buy things such as disaster relief or infrastructure repair or research to benefit society?” She is not alone in believing that no one would be hurt by this. On the surface, it really does appear that “no one would have to borrow it, lend it, or be taxed to pay it back.” We can skip over the roundabout process through which federal government spending is financed by issuing Treas...

Published in The Tennessean , Sunday, May 6, 2012 and Forbes with archives . by Richard J. Grant It is not incorrect to use the word “austerity” to describe an economic policy that places limits on, or cuts, government spending. But it can be misleading. An austere government is strictly frugal and avoids spending on programs that are viewed as nonessential. That is not the same as, nor does it lead to, an austere economy or standard of living. The best demonstration of this is to note that those governments now embarking on what they call “austerity programs” were not good examples of austerity before now. As with any family, those who made bad decisions in the past have less control over the choices available to them in the future. Those who lacked the discipline to work and save (and to invest wisely) in the past will have fewer resources with which to be frivolous in the future. This applies to governments as surely as it applies to families. A government that continues...