In 1980 Nobel economist Paul A. Samuelson predicted in his college textbook that the Soviet Union would overtake the United States sometime between 2002 and 2012.
Well, the Soviet Union closed up shop on December 26, 1991.
Samuelson failed to understand that the gloom and doom of the 1970s had much to do with a crisis of American leadership, not a lack of American entrepreneurship. Green shoots would be everywhere if and when given a "Morning in America," as Ronald Reagan put it.
On January 20, 1981 Reagan began his first presidential term. He meant to buck the trend of economic decline, and he did.
How?
The answer was summed up by Nobel economist Milton Friedman in three words: "Free to choose." In practice it’s up to enterprising individuals, not government bureaucracies, to make decisions where private businesses are concerned.*
True to individualism, Reaganite America managed to keep more and more wealth in the people. A smaller government grows a bigger economy. Small is beautiful.
True to collectivism, Soviet Russia managed to extract more and more wealth from the people. A bloating autocracy only depresses its economy. No freedom. No free growth. That's the way to the dustbin of history.
Reagan succeeded in making economic sense of his presidency to Americans as free individuals. That's the way to roar back and hit the ball out of the park.
Home run, Babe!
Author: renqiulan
* In January 1925 President Calvin Coolidge declared, “The chief business of the American people is business.”
