With every new economic report ("U.S. unemployment aid applications fall to 377,000," June 7), the politicians spout knee-jerk arguments about the government's role in fostering or slowing economic growth. But simplistic sloganeering doesn't reflect what happens in the real world.
Take the broadband industry, which has thrived in a weak economy. To meet fast-growing demand for high-speed, high-capacity service, Internet service providers have invested more than $250 billion in broadband networks over the past four years, creating jobs and enabling the creation of a burgeoning "App Economy." In this case, light regulation has worked: the federal government has mostly gotten out of the way and let the broadband boom blossom.
But another success story paints a different picture. After nearly drowning in the wake of the financial crisis, U.S. automakers are on the rise, each gaining market share in 2011 for the first time since 1988. The Big Three are expected to hire 150,000 workers by 2016 on top of 170,000 since June 2009. In this case, the effective government policy was radical intervention: the feds bailed out and took over Chrysler and GM (who've since paid back their loans), forcing a restructuring and raising fuel standard regulations at the same time. And it worked.
Our politicians would serve us better if they acknowledged that economic policy, like life, isn't simple.
Roger A. Campos
President and CEO
Minority Business RoundTable
Washington, D.C.
