Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, is warning about ‘complacency’
over Britain's economic recovery and fears that ‘the kind of growth we want
won't simply emerge of its own volition’. He urges his colleagues in the government not
to ‘rest on our laurels’.
Oh, how they don’t get it! It is exactly the
inactivity of governments that fosters economic growth. The only kind of
government action we need at the moment is negative
action: to do whatever it takes to decrease the activity of government. Clever
people realised this already in the 19th century*. Lord Palmerston** said
that ‘the only new laws that we need are those that abolish old ones’. It is exactly in this
government-free zone where economic growth emerges and of its own
volition to boot, which Mr Cable could either deduce through a bit of reflection or learn through a
spot of reading of, say, a certain Adam Smith; but obviously Mr Cable hasn’t
too much time to do any hard thinking about what’s really good for the economy, because he’s too busy
doing things to the economy.
*Perhaps much earlier, too. If you read carefully, I bet you'll find that Socrates or Plato made some wise (or silly) remark on this subject. Why, half of The Republic bangs on about it! And actually sounds quite Cablesque.
**if memory serves me right. (A little off at a tangent, but
not as much as you’d think: Lord Palmerston deserves to be remembered as one of
those wise and noble statesmen who opposed giving the vote to sections of the
urban working-classes. When the Cabinet decided in 1853 to introduce a bill to
that effect, Palmerston quit government.
And now completely by the way: Duke of
Wellington is also worth mentioning in this context. He was an extremely staunch and brave
opponent of the Refrom Act of 1832, which extended franchise in a dangerous
way. When the Act was finally passed and
the new Parliament first met, Wellington allegedly remarked
"I never saw so many awful hats in my life"; which means that not only was he wise, but also sensitive to aesthetics.)
