Mauldin: A Nation of Shopkeepers

John Mauldin has another piece relevant to the philosophical side of the discussion amongst Keynesianism and Austrianism (or neoliberalism, from Adam Smith's point of view).  The most important point that I picked out of this piece is the distinction between productive and unproductive labor.  In order for growth of a nation to occur, the labors of the people must be productive towards the end of increasing efficiency and productivity, such that objects which form the core of a higher standard of living can be produced at lessened cost.  If technology can be a catalyst for making this happen, then it is a positive thing regardless of the chaos that it sows in the short term.  Also by extension, any government policy which does not further this end by supporting and encouraging (or at the very least, not inhibiting) productive labors is a worthless political pursuit and should be abandoned immediately.   Programs like welfare, which breed torpor and stupidity into the very core of a population, should not be supported on a federal level.  Similarly, rules that provide special privilege for businesses and corporations also should be removed, as these breed complacency and stupidity on a corporate scale.  Capitalism only works when it is free to weed out failure in a society.  People, businesses, and nations must innovate or die.