Last, Lost, and Found by Eric Nolte Eric Nolte is an airline pilot, a writer, and a classically trained pianist and composer of contemporary concert music. T echnological innovation is the most powerful force for improving our safety and health, but such creativity withers under government control. It flourishes in the rich soil of freedom.
Government intervention subsidizes businesses that are mediocre, obsolescent, and inept.
Such firms survive not because they have won consumer dollars through the logic of superior products and voluntary trade with consumers, but because they have succeeded in lobbying for legislative advantages that hobble their betters in the marketplace and stifle the creativity behind innovation. Aviation presents many examples of this. At one time a small factory-built light airplane could be purchased for the price of a nice automobile. Those who want a little Cessna now need to raise enough money for a home mortgage, not a car loan. While aviation electronics have seen big advances, that is largely a result of the boom in computers and consumer electronics that has proceeded mostly without government interference.