Neoconservatives like to claim Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations proves the "invisible hand" of markets works, if government gets out of its way. In fact he only uses that term once in 600 pages. Even the Adam Smith Institute's abridged and editorializes version of the book admits (page 49) the reference is "rather elliptical". Smith actually focuses...
My blogs will focus on what I called Social Infrastructure (SI) in my pioneering work on wealth metrics at the World Bank (see Washington Post article from 1995, here). SI is what we invest in how people collaborate as well as compete. The World Bank routinely updates and modifies wealth metrics; most recently here.
Dysfunctional government is due to Democratic Party neglect of local politics. The Republican Party uses local politics as farm teams, finding talent to make its way to State and then Federal office. Democrats treat local elections like pick-up games; turning State and Federal politics into spectator sports where one celebrates wins or bemoans...