HAPPY ANNIVERSARY- YOU DIDN'T BUILD THAT REVISITED

Anniversaries mark important dates, timely events which give us moments to reflect on the meaning of particular periods and junctures in our lives, or our histories. Ten years ago, during the campaign of 2012, the incumbent Chief Executive Barack Obama made his infamous “you didn’t build that” speech in which Obama pointed to entrepreneurs and business owners and reminded them their accomplishments were a byproduct of an infrastructure which had been provided to them courtesy of a leviathan government with its taxing, spending and hefty programs. In his remarks, the President elevated the government to a partner in innovation and progress. News outlets quickly reminded the public that the President’s comments were not unique to the Chief Executive and had been previously echoed by other Democrats such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, the blustery know it all from Massachusetts. On the surface, Obama’s comments seemed very logical, the government builds roads and bridges and provides education for the youth, which creates the foundation of an educated and creative mind and the result is an innovative work force responding to the wants and desires of the market. But something seemed awry about his remarks and as other commentaries have suggested this infrastructure, either physical or human, are basic items which governments throughout the world are expected to provide. The lavishing of such credit on the government was quite an oddity because the government was simply fulfilling its basic function. Nevertheless, this is exactly what Obama did. Not only did he give the government credit, the Chief Executive put the actions of the public sector on par with the innovative qualities of the private sector. Wanting to ensure that policy making wannabees and pencil pushing bureaucrats have a sense of hegemony and importance, the President made the odd comparison of this class to the true innovators, the entrepreneurs. Now the entrepreneurs are the wealth creators, people responding to markets, taking risks of time, capital, making adaptations and modifications to products and services. Private firms are expected to follow a budget, worry about the costs of inputs and compete against rivals for markets. If these private firms fail, they lose money or go bankrupt and disappear into the dustbin of the history of failed enterprises. Conversely, the public sector is often accused and found guilty of cost overruns, duplication and massive waste but because the government has a monopoly on the construction of such entities, the public reluctantly accepts these inequities. Costly budgets are seldom reduced, inefficient programs are not dismantled and idle workers remain on the payroll with lavish salaries and benefits. Such is the manifestation of “you didn’t build that,” which essentially is the narcissism of policymakers and bureaucrats inflating their importance pertaining to the prosperity of the nation. Which brings us to 2022 as the Biden Administration continuously touts increased government spending in the form of the massive Build Back Better as a way to solve the economic quandary the nation is confronting. But the history of government spending is the history of yes, a possible short term gain, but it is also one of inefficiency and currently, massive inflation. Instead of reducing taxes, regulation and deficits, the Administration looks to the opposite and the results have been cataclysmic. Creeping inflation has turned into a gallop as prices on everything from energy to food has skyrocketed. Leaders in the private sector have warned of economic calamity while government officials in a dystopian mindset simultaneously hail the gains of the economy, all the while the common man is grinded down by the current economic state. Instead of shouting, “you didn’t build that, in the midst of this economic downturn, government obstructionism will create a chorus of you aren’t building that! The result of this, unemployment, loss of wages, growth and further malaise. And how the nation will continue to suffer!