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We need our economy back!

I am deeply concerned with the economic pressures facing all of us today. From the housing market, to unemployment, to food, energy, and healthcare costs, more and more people are struggling to keep up, and becoming more concerned about the future.

When considering these challenges, here's my fundamental question: How can the federal government help?

As I see it, our federal government is no longer working for the people. Not only has it grown beyond our ability to afford it, but our government's interests are no longer distinguishable from corporate and special interests who increasingly drive regulations and legislative agendas. That's called corporatism, and it's the antithesis of good government.

Corporatism has given us rising prices, exporting jobs overseas, unjustified warfare and unsustainable policies in energy, agriculture, and the environment. Finally, we're laboring under a crushing debt burden and a host of other problems that are undermining American civil liberties and property rights.

The best economic growth happens at the grassroots, in our local communities. As an entrepreneur, I know how challenging it is to start and grow a business.  Satisfying your customer is hard enough -- you shouldn't also have to work overtime for the federal government, and the federal government shouldn't help your competitors with corporate welfare and regulations written by the politically-connected.

The best way we can encourage real economic growth is to end corporate welfare, and end unfair and false "economies of scale" to the politically connected through complicated tax codes and self-serving regulations. Our tax codes are so complicated that large corporations game the system at the expense of small and family businesses. Today, most "regulations " are actually written by lobbyists representing the industries supposedly being regulated. Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse!

It's also important to note that regulations are essential in areas where the government has created a monopoly, and prevented competition. Our monetary system and financial services industry are perfect examples of such a monopoly. Congress unconstitutionally delegated the government's authority to coin money and regulate its value to a private central bank, the Federal Reserve, in 1913. The banking system underneath the Federal Reserve controls access to money and credit, and as such, maintains a monopoly over the most important commodity in our economy -- the money itself.

The current money and banking system is analogous to giving Time Warner a national monopoly on communications service, and then empowering the Time Warner board of directors to sit in Washington and fix its own prices and level of service. Clearly, with a monopoly of this sort, strict regulations are needed!

While many recognize that the push to deregulate and advance social agendas through the banking industry contributed to our current credit crisis, more Americans are coming to realize that the real problem in our economy is the unstable and unsustainable money monopoly we've inherited.

As your Congressman, I will work to make our country a great place to start and grow a business:

A free economy will create more owners who are empowered to build businesses at every level of society. From the new electrician to the new college graduate, there are countless ways to create value and earn an honest living in a free economy. We don't need to just "get a job", or run begging to a bankrupt federal government for help. We can create jobs, and businesses, too. Read more here.

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