Other Voices

I was reading an article this morning on the current financial crisis. Its apparently leading to Obama being ahead in the polls, which I note happily but also with a sense of damn, why does it take bad news to have this effect on the polls? That's a high price to pay.

The article said a couple of non-remarkable things, but what I found most interesting was a response by a woman named Kimberly Peacock. I didn't agree with all of it, but I thought what she was was worthwhile because she made some good points. Here's a bit of her response:

What we need is more small business, not more big business, and big government. While you (Obama) and McCain are right in calling for government oversight, what needs to be done by government is set standards and develop investment incentives for small business investment, while reducing the cost of small business developing and producing innovative products. This is possible by creating something of a co-op for each particular industry, with shared labs and equipment. We as a country need to move towards fabrication labs, and move manufacturing from vertical large corporations, to distributed regional manufacturing companies, which produce a multitude of products based upon IP.

This approach will provide diversity much like living organisms and create a much more robust economy. This in turn will create more small businesses, and more jobs, which will lead to a higher standard of living for all Americans.

I understand her feelings, and I think she's substantially right. I prefer the idea of vigorous small businesses -- big enough to compete, big as they need be to get certain classes of jobs done, not so big that they overwhelm the competition just through size. I think that people who believe in small business tend to have a view of a nation of happy yeomen, each doing his little thing, and I doubt that's practical. But the concept, I like a lot -- and if I had to err one way or the other in terms of whom to give governmental resources to, my inclination would be to go her way.

Now she does also say things like Obama, the problem with you; is that you really believe in big government and big business,which I don't think is true (though I can see how it sure would look that way from the viewpoint of an ardent small-business advocate) and The government by creating standards and incentives through the tax code can provide both carrot and stick, and force the people who have monies to invest in small business by making it detrimental not to do so, which scares me a little bit; it seems like I tend to see a lot more of the stick and not so much of the carrot. Not to mention that it seems to saddle the happy yeomen with a stern overseer.

But overall, I like what she said.