I read with almost amusement the writings of Richard Elfers and his analysis of big government vs. big business.

If Mr. Elfers would do us all the favor of developing a basic understanding of economics, we would all be better served. Perhaps his first lesson should be the teachings of Adam Smith and a reading of the “Wealth of Nations.” This Scottish philosopher explains how wealth is created; it is not by either big business or big government. A primer of Smith’s teachings would give Mr. Elfers an understanding of basic economics.

This is not complicated stuff. Governments do not create anything, they simply redistribute the wealth of the producers. If you diminish (or overtax) the producers, government will have less revenue to fund it’s endeavors. Small business is the creator of wealth and stifling small business is the surest way to create economic downturns and hardship for all workers and the entire population.

In his July 15 editorial Mr. Elfers cites child labor, 14- to 16-hour work days and the minuses of the industrial revolution. This is tiresome liberal drivel. It was the industrial revolution (and free enterprise) that brought the U.S. economy to become the greatest wealth producing entity the world has ever seen.

I would like to know if Mr. Elfers would have preferred a government edict that said no child could work (take the decision from the parents of the child) and of course take away the “free choice” of working more than an eight-hour shift, and a bunch more regulations of these “robber barons” would have led to a more robust economy and better and more just society.

Margaret Thatcher said it best: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of the other people’s money.”

Dave Asplund

Enumclaw