Balancing profits against public interest

Lynn Lanier, Henderson

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 | 2:04 a.m.

Cuts in government are needed, but we must cut carefully. Our government balances the people’s interests with the singular profit motive of most corporations. Its agencies help protect the public from unsafe products and practices.

Government balances the health of American citizens and our planet with the short-term profit motives of the health care and fossil fuel industries. The government will ensure BP pays for damages in the Gulf of Mexico and will help see it doesn’t happen again.

Spawned in the ’50s, President Dwight Eisenhower’s interstate highway system was important for the growth that followed. The proposed smart grid will provide the infrastructure for the next great growth industry — clean energy. However, our share of the world’s innovators in this area has declined because of programs like the gas tax in Europe, which forced innovation of energy alternatives.

The private sector produces many of America’s inventions. However, government patent laws protect the scientists’ inventions. Bankruptcy laws allow businesses spawned by the inventions to fail, which encourages others to try new ideas. Government funds basic research that often generates new businesses.

Banks provide capital for growth. However, during our greatest period of innovation and growth, the decades following World War II, the government heavily regulated banks. Last decade the financial systems enjoyed deregulation, and our share of the world’s GDP dropped significantly. Most experts say deregulation was partly responsible for the worst recession since the Great Depression.