Seeking Protection, Rather Than Competition | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Andy Taylor, who is a contributor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

    Americans are upset. Some are just mildly unhappy, others seem miserable, many are plain mad. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll reports that more than half have believed the country is "on the wrong track" in every month since February 2005. A Pew survey reveals most of us have been "dissatisfied" with the way things are going ever since January 2004. Several polls show that large majorities of Americans are currently "angry" at the federal government, the political parties, and just the way things are in general.

    But why? This clearly isn't episodic, caused merely by the election of Donald Trump or concern about war breaking out on the Korean peninsula. It is deep and enduring, the result of two prominent features of American life today.

    The first is the lack of economic growth. For a record 10th consecutive year, in 2016 the United States experienced an increase of less than 3 percent in gross domestic product. In the 1950s and 1960s, 6 percent growth was not unusual; during the second half of the 1990s, 4 percent was normal. Now policymakers and economists seem satisfied with 2 percent.

    Growth is critical because it will stop us from squabbling. If the pie isn't expanding, we often fight with each other over the size of our slices. Americans always will engage in philosophical debates over fiscal policy, but the distribution of economic resources must be p