The US could be doing 'so much better' with greater economic growth: Steve Moore
'America Reports' panelists Steve Moore and Robert Wolf analyze business conditions under President Biden following the Federal Reserve's decision to leave interest rates unchanged.
One of Ronald Reagan’s most famous quotes was "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.’"
Unfortunately, with the backing of the elite and assisted by progressive-leaning ideology in place of basic math, there has been too much unwelcome help that has created a lot of bad realities for the rest of us.
A basic principle of just about everything in life is that actions have consequences. It doesn’t matter if these actions originate from the government or an individual – either way, you may be able to shift, divert or disguise the consequences, but you can’t outrun them forever.
President Biden commemorated the 57th anniversary of the signing of Medicare Saturday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Individuals and entities were not mean to "play God," and trying to do so ends up with bad outcomes, regardless of the intentions.
LEGENDARY INVESTOR SAYS HE WOULD GIVE BIDENOMICS 'AN F'
Recent years have seen more and more government "help," backed by other powerful, well-connected people. This comes out of ego, out of an attempt to gain more power for themselves and their friends, or sometimes, a little of both. However, the help is never what it seems.
We have seen policies sold as "helping Main Street" absolutely crush those very same people. Continual spending and money printing, which accelerated during the COVID mandates, was doubled down on by the Biden administration.
The American Rescue Plan, which doled out individual checks in the name of "helping" individuals even though the "COVID emergency" was behind us, along with easy Fed monetary policy with a similarly stated goal, helped stoke massive inflation that continues to make it difficult for many Americans to keep up with the increased cost of living.
The outcome of that "help" was highly predictable and many of us warned against it, but the pleas to live in reality were ignored.
The government, again, backed by the elite, has also mounted a massive campaign to move us away from traditional sources of energy. Despite cheap, plentiful and effective traditional energy being foundational to having a better standard of living, the hubris of those elite who "know better" have taken on a massive campaign, selling it as a "help."
However, that has not only made our energy more expensive, but has also given more power to major oil producers and countries like China, who are rich with the resources needed for "green" power initiatives.
All of this has negative repercussions for Americans’ cost of living, and frankly, is full of greenwashing (that is, it really does nothing material to make the planet "greener").
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
Another area where the elite and government want to "help" is by raising the minimum wage, not by market forces but by mandate. In California, where a new wage specifically for fast-food workers was raised to a floor of $20 an hour, the selling point was to "help" unskilled workers.
However, actions still have consequences.
From more technology replacing jobs to restaurants shutting down altogether and not being able to offer jobs to anyone, there have been reported real, not to mention predictable, outcomes from these actions.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Those elite who are decoupled from reality (and math) have argued that it is great to see workers getting paid more. They remain fixated on the nominal value of wages instead of purchasing power. Raising the minimum wage arbitrarily can be the catalyst for broad price increases and keeping people out of jobs altogether, exactly the kind of help that none of us need.
There has been a lot of "help" recently, and Americans are paying for that help on credit cards and with depleted bank accounts. If the government and their elite buddies want to help, the best thing they can do is just stay out of the way.
Best of Opinion
Get the recap of top opinion commentary and original content throughout the week.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.