Do you think bad governments are the biggest obstacle to prosperity?

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   Dakkposted 15 months ago

   Nobel prize winner economist Angus Deaton said that, economically, humanity has been steadily improving over the past decades, and that the biggest barrier to progress in general today are terrible governments.
   I personally view this as mostly true, observing the current stuff going on in Turkey, Venezuela, and Colombia makes it hard to think otherwise. The general economic state of humanity has overall improved (as exemplified in one of my hubs), and all the major problems we currently face all seem to be caused by governments or made worse by them.
   Do you agree with this? And if so, why?

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      lions44posted 15 months ago in reply to this

      I agree. But it varies. Sometimes governments are too intrusive, think Socialist Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Then you have governments that just don't function (Sub Saharan Africa) and in the West, problems occur when they fail in their fundamental role, which is to referee the economy.
      
      That's how we had the 2008 meltdown.  It took 7 years of turning a blind eye to mortgage-backed derivatives and associated subprime issues, but we are still coming out of that mess.  The Federal Government's primary role in  the economy is to make sure everyone follows the rules (via the SEC, DOJ, etc.)  Congress and the President have a role as well.  They all failed.  I hope we never forget.

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      promisemposted 15 months ago in reply to this

      Bad citizens create bad governments. Propaganda creates bad citizens.

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