Goldilocks

First some numbers. In 1955, when I was born, the population of the US was a little over 161.1 million. Today it is over 336.3 million. In other words, the population has more than doubled in my lifetime. In 1855, the population was 26.7 million, less than 1/12 of today’s count. The US now has over 134 times the number of people it had in 1776.

Many believe our government is too large. Their notion is that government ought to be small, such as it was back when America was great, when taxes were low, and self-reliance was the word of the day. A small government would stay out of everyone’s way. Large governments have “intrusive” regulations that only restrict profits and job growth. Businesses should be able to self-regulate without all the unnecessary expense and bureaucratic red tape.

Yet, our economic system, while able to produce more, better, faster, and arguably cheaper goods than in the past, has so far been unable to regulate itself. I’ve lost track of how many recessions we’ve had in my lifetime. We can’t seem to make it through a decade without at least one recession, if not two or three. And some of the greatest depressions happened decades before I was born. Nevertheless, we are expected to accept the “business cycle” as an inevitable fact of life.

All businesses claim they can regulate themselves – until they can’t, for whatever reason. They claim to be free-standing enterprises that don’t need government involvement – until they do. Some claim to be “private” enterprises even when their business model depends on public money. The defense industry comes to mind, but there are others.

Rail companies are a case in point. Thousands of miles of track. Thousands of rail cars. Much of that track and equipment is in poor enough condition to contribute to regular derailments (by some counts 2-3 per week). And sometimes a derailment involves toxic substances. But rail companies claim they can handle their own business. I know several rail crossings in my city alone that tell my car otherwise.

Proponents of small government claim that for-profit businesses are always better – more efficient and effective – than the government. I claim that any large enterprise – public or private – has waste and inefficiency. At a certain point it becomes impossible to keep tabs on everything and some things will slip through the cracks. So, maybe rules and regulations have a role.

Part of me wants to blame the small-government, keep-my-taxes-low, stay-out-of-my-business types for what happened in Ohio. It’s also telling that some of the people who ridiculed the “Waters of the US” regulations now blame the government for allowing such a spill to find its way downstream. But there is plenty of blame to go around. We all want government to keep its hands off until we need the government’s help. Whenever disaster strikes, we can’t seem to get enough of it.

Businesses that can’t even maintain their own parking lots count on the government to bail them out when things go sideways. People who want low taxes end up spending a fortune on SUVs, trucks, and repair bills because there isn’t enough money to maintain roads and highways. And some who were in favor of fracking now claim that chemicals are leaching into the water supply and poisoning livestock. Clearly, job creation for some often results in negative outcomes for others, especially when decisions are controlled by corporate lobbyists.

Maybe we shouldn’t want small government or big government, but some kind of Goldilocks “just right” government. If our population is 134 times what it was back in 1776, it stands to reason we would need a much larger government than we had back then. Perhaps we should look for something that has just enough taxes, just enough regulation, and just enough administration to handle a diverse and complicated system.

At the same time, we should probably realize there is no way to please everyone. After all, according to the story, Goldilocks “was not at all a well-brought-up little girl…If she had been a well-brought-up little girl she would have waited till the Bears came home, and then, perhaps, they would have asked her to breakfast; for they were good Bears—a little rough or so, as the manner of Bears is, but for all that very good-natured and hospitable. But she was an impudent, rude little girl, and so she set about helping herself.”

We all want what we want, when we want it, the way we want it. Banks want bailouts, especially when they are “too big to fail.” Investors want to be made whole, even after they have made bad decisions, even as they decry college graduates who are having trouble paying their student loans. Corporations expect the government to provide food stamps and other aid to their underpaid employees. Railroads and oil companies expect taxpayers to clean up their messes. Private businesses of all kinds expect public subsidies, loans, or loan guarantees. And we, the people, want both low taxes and high levels of service – big government performance at small government prices. Let’s face it: we are Goldilocks.