Government Prosperity

By promoting capitalism through entrepreneurship and by empowering the individual, rather than creating costly government-funded programs, federal and local governments will prosper and continue to experience economic growth for years to come. Although capitalism is often thought to be a source of inequality - which I concede is true in several cases - it has also been proven to be a tool by which economies can achieve tremendous results. The United States economy is a prime example of what capitalism has to offer. Yes, there are the obvious negatives to the United States economy. Unemployment is higher than it has been in decades and until just recently, the stock market had not been performing to expectations either. However, these events are merely cyclical and, according to historical trends, unemployment rates will drop and the stock market will inevitably rebound to prior levels. Utilizing capitalism as the main economic system, the United States will be able to exceed our goals. Entrepreneurship, which is one of the main ideals within capitalism, enables small businesses to triumph in a market economy, thus creating jobs and lowering unemployment rates. Assuming a company begins to function at a high level and that there is enough demand for its product, a company may begin to bring money into our nation's economy. Government-funded programs, on the other hand, are holding back individuals from excelling in their own right. They do provide sustenance for those who are otherwise unable to provide for themselves, but how well do they even do that? An article published by the Cato Institute in 2006 explained that although "the federal government spent more than $477 billion on some 50 different programs to fight poverty" in 2005, the poverty rate remained at 12.6 percent in 2006. It seems to be somewhat apparent that this money was either not used properly, or was just not sufficient to reduce the poverty rate. By providing just enough for those who are considered to be in poverty (average threshold for a family of four in 2008 was $22,025), the government is NOT providing these individuals with any way to get out of poverty but instead confirming the theory of cumulative disadvantage. Definitions for this debate: 1. entrepreneur - A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture 2. empower - (a)to give power or authority to; authorize, esp. by legal or official means (b)to enable or permit 3. capitalism - an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp. as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth http://dictionary.reference.com... http://dictionary.reference.com... http://dictionary.reference.com... http://data.bls.gov... http://www.cato.org... http://www.census.gov... *This debate is not meant to be about specific programs, although they may be brought up in the argument. The debate is intended to be an argument of differing views with regards to the general strategy for economic prosperity for both individuals and the government as a whole.