7 unspeakable acts guaranteed to revive economy

The cover story in the September issue of Newsmax is titled "Saving America: Mitt and Ann Share Their Personal Journey."

It reminded me once again that so long as people look to politicians to solve their problems – or the nation's problems – the problems will only get worse. Politicians are in the business of passing laws, and laws almost always involve taking money from individuals or restricting their freedom.

There are hundreds of ways to "get the economy moving," but off the top of my head I can think of seven obvious government actions that, if taken, would quickly shrink unemployment to 4 percent or less, rev up GDP growth to 8 percent or more and give government enough revenue to begin paying off the national debt.

They are:

Abolish all minimum-wage laws immediately. Bingo! Millions of new jobs become available.
Phase out all unemployment benefits over a period of six months, thus forcing those on the government dole to take jobs that are available in order to survive. Note: In most cases, these would not be the jobs they happen to want; they would be jobs they would need in order to feed their families. It's OK for people to be "underemployed" if it puts food on their table.
Abolish the Environmental Protection Agency immediately. No phasing out.
Abolish the Federal Trade Commission. In a spirit of generosity, I'd give the busybodies at the FTC a year to untangle themselves from the marketplace.
End foreign aid to most, if not all, countries. Come to think of it, in the name of "social justice," why aren't China and Saudi Arabia giving us foreign aid?
Close a majority of U.S. military bases around the world.
Implement across-the-board cuts in spending to bring the federal budget in line with Bill Clinton's last year in office (when the economy was healthy and, contrary to what progressives would like us to believe, people were NOT starving ).

Isn't it remarkable that not one speaker at the Republican National Convention has so much as mentioned any of these items, even though they would make America a strong and prosperous nation very quickly?

In his newest book, Robert Ringer goes to bat for the most maligned and beleaguered individuals in America. Don't miss "The Entrepreneur: The Way Back forthe U.S. Economy"

If an alien from another galaxy were to land in the U.S. today, he would undoubtedly ask why the party of free enterprise and individual responsibility – i.e., those guys jubilantly pumping "Mitt" signs in the air in Tampa – would fail to offer solutions that are 100 percent guaranteed to work.

The answer we would have to give him is that most Republicans are not really serious about solving America's fiscal problems. What they are serious about is once again gaining control of the reins of power.

Don't get me wrong. If there actually is an election … and if Romney-Ryan manage to win … and if the Dean of Duplicity relinquishes power without resorting to a phony state of emergency before they can be sworn in … they will do the usual Republican tinkering around the edges of existing programs in an effort to put a smidgen more "free" in free enterprise.

And if they tinker enough, it will actually produce some tangible results. Why? Because the power of entrepreneurship and even semi-free markets are so great that they will make it possible for the average person to enjoy a heavy dose of artificial prosperity once more (think what Steve Jobs and Bill Gates did for the average person), again postponing the day when the bill comes due.

By when the bill comes due, I mean that under eight years of Romney, then perhaps eight years of Ryan, not one dollar of the national debt would be paid off. In fact, it would grow to $25 trillion – and probably beyond – further cementing the reality that it can never be paid off.

So, short term, the outlook could be rosy if Republicans win the White House and both houses of Congress in November. But for politicians, the name of the game is to "get the economy moving" without doing anything drastic, then get out of office before the national debt takes down the whole fiscal house of cards.

Being the optimist I am, after that house of cards finally collapses, I can't help but fantasize about a new America rising from the ashes like a phoenix, an America whose citizens realize that the one creature that cannot improve their lives is the politician. Emphasis on "fantasize."

Now, back to reality, including the possibility that what we could be facing after Nov. 6 is not Romney-Ryan tinkering around the edges, but, rather, a permanent Der Fuhrbama dictatorship. So voters have to decide whether they prefer quick death or slow, agonizing death. What a great choice.

Isn't it wonderful to live in a free country?