Alan von Altendorf

The Antidote to Economic Malaise: A Culture of Collective Mindfulness

There is so much wrong with this article, I will confine my remarks to three items. The President of the United States should be and is constitutionally charged with the duty to faithfully execute the laws enacted by Congress, as interpeted by the Supreme Court, full stop. He is not "president of the world," nor dictator. In fact, he has fewer legal rights than Joe Sixpack. That's the essence of American law. Public officials are restrained from exercising arbitrary power. They are keenly scrutinized by a free press, subject to frequent and fair election, and checked by separation of powers among the three branches of Federal government and the 50 states.

Item two, quoting Ayn Rand, what the Have Nots have not is freedom. The world's worst suffering is caused by warlords, ethnic hate, corrupt governments, and tribal whim-worship. There is nothing to be done about it, except withdraw our support for dictators like Mubarak. If you want idealism, fine. The American ideal is liberty.

Lastly, your appeal to "high reliability organizations" is ghastly. NHS is reliable only in the sense of appalling waste and gross incompetence. If you think aircraft carrier organization is preferable to a competitive free market, it amounts to praise for fascist military dictatorship.