What Politicians Don’t Understand About The Economy

I was reading the Wall Street Journal last week and came across an article called “The Myth of Basic Science.”

It made the point my research long ago proved to me: that the evolution of technology moves on its own.

Politicians think they can turn it on and off like a tap – just start a new space program!

They also think they can stimulate the economy to grow forever without having recessions any more – and other ridiculous assumptions that show how little they understand the dynamics of free market capitalism.

Our economy is not an inorganic machine. It’s a dynamic biological system – like coral reefs that innovate and adapt, without human intervention.

This is where politicians, economists, central bankers, and even historians are totally clueless.

They point to Thomas Edison and say: “How else would we have gotten the light bulb?”

Do you really think that without Thomas Edison we wouldn’t have the light bulb!?

People honestly believe that without him, such innovation would not have happened. They think all you have to do is find the right person, and innovation will follow.

Alright, first of all, most inventors and radical entrepreneurs are very eccentric people. I would know! You don’t “find” these people. They emerge on their own, most of the time after they’ve already made a name for themselves and before you recognize them.

Secondly – history shows that this is simply not true. No one person is ever responsible. Many people have worked on major breakthroughs at the same time.

Elisha Gray filed for a patent on the telephone the same day as Alexander Bell.

By the time Google hit in 1996, several other search engines already existed.

Six people invented the thermometer. Five the telegraph. Five the steamboat. Four photography!

So let me ask again: do you really thing we wouldn’t have the light bulb without Thomas Edison?