The government is too big.

The 1 Percent are too rich.

Wall Street is over regulated.

Wall Street rips off small investors.

We are still in a recession.

The stimulus didn’t work.

The tax code is too complicated.

The rich need to pay more.

Middle class wages need to go up.

Raising the minimum wage won’t work.

The 2012 JOBS Act is a wonderful law.

The 2012 JOBS Act is a timebomb of financial scandals waiting to happen.

Welcome to Finance and Freedom, where we dispense with the talking points of both the Left and the Right and take a creative look at our financial system: banks, money, capital markets, taxes, savings plans, and more. We shall explore how to replace red tape with responsibility, wage serfdom with free agency, Big Business with more businesses, the business cycle with economic stability, frantic consumerism with sustainable economics, makework with time off to enjoy life.

Finance

How do we make corporate insiders and the Wizards of Wall St. behave without stifling the flow of capital to new businesses?

How do we get banks to start lending to businesses in their communities without suffering yet another banking crisis and bailout?

How do we prevent predatory lenders from ripping people off with fine print without socializing the entire mortgage market in the name of consumer protection?

Can we go back to a gold standard? Should we?

Should we have a Federal Reserve Bank? Should the Federal Reserve Bank be reformed?

How do we get the middle class back in the habit of saving money for retirement and emergencies?

How can we make legal and financial services affordable enough for the working class?

Freedom

Government is too big and complex; and too many people rot in prison. However, contrary to libertarian dogma, freedom is far more than smaller government. If you are deep in debt and stuck in a dead end job, you are not free. The liberals have that correct.

But liberal government since the Great Depression has drowned us in bureaucracy and lawsuits. This creates extra overhead. Overhead favors Big Business over being your own boss. Meanwhile, our poorly designed welfare system traps millions into perpetual near poverty, and how we finance that system sends as much money upwards to the super rich as is does to the needy.

That said, libertarian reforms done randomly would lead to disaster. You shouldn’t privatize the retirement system without having safe and simple private options a garbage man can understand. You shouldn’t weaken labor law without creating a stronger labor market first – “take this job and shove it” is an adequate check on many employer abuses if workers have other options, including a safety net. You shouldn’t weaken anti trust law without first lowering the barriers to entry for new businesses to provide fresh competition.

Here at Finance and Freedom we address both freedom concerns. Let us turn the Safety Net into a bouncy trampoline. Let us have some progressive taxation, but make it simple enough so it doesn’t strangle small business. Let us keep the Federal Reserve but limit its mission to preventing crashes and bank runs. Let us encourage saving over needless spending, equity over debt, financial freedom over wage slavery, fun and family over excess consumption.

Our vision is neither liberal, conservative, nor libertarian. It is more fun than any of these.

Capital for The People!