There are roughly three ways that Washington can effect the economy: monetary policy, fiscal policy, and regulatory policy.
Monetary policy is dead. The Fed, which is as "Federal" as Federal Express, is already at zero, and all that quantitative easing did nothing but provide a huge drag on the economy in the form of trillions in debt. Think of the Fed as the regulatory body that manipulates the economy so as to maximize banking profits. There is no need for regulatory capture in monetary policy. The central banks manage themselves (!) Next!
Fiscal policy is a mess. Everything from the tax code to the huge chronic deficit expenditures we witness in Washington every year are out of control. Someone needs to reign-in the fiscal profligacy of our Federal Gub-mint.
Regulatory capture ( www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/regulatory-capture-captured-on-video-20150325 ) is business as usual in Washington, and regulations typically, rather than protect the public, protect the huge corporations who can afford the enormous costs of compliance. In fact the huge corporations welcome the burdensome regulation as it functions as a competitive moat against upstart competitors, who may have found ways of doing things better, faster, and cheaper. The regulators typically cycle through sinecures in their regulated industries from regulatory posts in government as payment from their corporate masters. This is how regulatory capture works, and why big corporations favor it over a free market.
The drag on our economy is real and it comes from the fiscal and regulatory environment in Washington. We need a much smaller, cheaper, and less intrusive Washington.
