The more things change the more they stay the same.
45 years ago on this day, November 5 back in 1979 the following speech was given by an investment manager and guest speaker. The event was a large gathering of Charlotte business leaders during the Charlotte Rotary Club’s Annual Public Business Luncheon held “Uptown” at the then new Radisson Hotel now called Omni Charlotte.
The subject was government overreach and "Freedoms Being Lost”.
Freedom is a free-market, free enterprise, free to produce, discover, invent, experiment, to succeed, to fail, to profit, and to consume all on a voluntary basis without interference by the policing powers of the state.
It is a fact, that government control does not work, and it has been bad and getting worse for all who have tried it.
Let me illustrate how we are moving in the direction of more and more government control:
In 1960 the federal government had 100 programs, while today it has grown to more than 1,200.
In 1930 government spending accounted for 12 percent of the gross national product whereas today it is 40 percent.
By the year 2000 at the current rate of growth it will be 60 percent.
With the free enterprise system we produce 28 percent of the world production with five percent of the world’s population. After we feed ourselves, we export 60 percent of our wheat and rice, 50 percent of our soybeans, 20 percent of our corn, despite the fact that since 1940 the number of farmers and farm workers has decreased by 66 and 2/3rds percent, because during the last 40 years, our output has increased 75 percent.
Contrast this to the Soviet Union, who after 63 years of Bolshevik Achievement are still dependent of western technology for food. The obvious flaw, a lack of creative thought, and no incentive to achieve more by the masses.
"Democratic-Socialism":
Sweden’s “cradle-to-grave” protection now dictates the color of a man’s house. For this guidance, the average Swedish worker pays $4,125 annually in taxes from his $11,000 per year income.
The British man pays taxes of nearly 60 percent of the national income.
Today 130 million man-hours are spent each year filling out US government forms at a cost of $25 billion. Government then spends another $15 billion processing its own paperwork.
Regulations that have become detrimental to the free enterprise system, include those requiring truckers operating between Cleveland Ohio and Jacksonville Florida to make return trips empty; Greyhound bus cannot have age qualifications for drivers and the company was recently ordered to pay $19 million to unknown short people because of its rule that drivers must be at least five foot, seven inches tall.
Recently the Continental Can Company paid $100,000 for ear plugs but OSHA demanded that they spend $33 million to build sound shields because some workers were too ignorant or obstinate to wear the ear plugs.
The washroom scene today is so sad it’s funny.
Two federal agencies are currently fighting over jurisdiction of the nation’s toilets. OSHA says women’s restrooms must have special lounge facilities, but the EEOC says if that is so, men must have equal couches and chairs.
Americans can combat this trend toward more and more government control by sending money to free enterprise groups such as the “Council for a Competitive Economy” and stop sending money to those colleges and universities whose faculties are hostile to capitalism.
Support news media which are either pro-business or at least professionally capable of being fair and accurate in the treatment of pro-capitalist ideas.
The Rotary "guest speaker" was my father then national sales manager for EF Hutton a New York investment firm, and his well-received remarks were reported in the Charlotte Observer.
It is not surprising that so many of the issues that concern us today were just as much a concern more than 40 years ago only far more critical today.
Prohibition of gas stoves?
Federal mask mandate, no vaccine - no employment rules enforced by OSHA?
Mandatory EVs nationwide?
Proof of vaccine being required for air travel?
Tampons in the boys bathrooms in high school?
A proposed "truth commision" to vet social media?
Banning plastic grocery and yard waste bags?
Prison for posting offensive Memes in the UK?
Liberal Media encouraged by the state to promote state mandated beliefs and silencing conservative thought?
Fair and Balanced News reporting?
In 1979 Charlotte’s population was just over 300,000, I-77 had recently been extended south all the way to South Carolina and just past Rockhill, That year the Charlotte Knights were called the Orioles playing nightly during the summer at Crocket Park in Dilworth. A wood structure built in the 1920's which was lost to Charlotte's density saturation agenda.
Fred Smith’s Council for a Competitive Economy is now in 2024 called the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Yes that Fred Smith the founder of FedEx.
Dad's projection of 60 percent government spending by the year 2000 was off by a few years. Spending did in fact triple from just under $1 trillion in 1979 to $3 trillion in 1999, but it wasn’t until 2009 that spending pushed past the 40 percent level.
Government spending first reached $1.5 trillion in the mid 1980s, and then breached $2 trillion in the recession year of 1991. In the 1990s spending increases started to level off, reaching $3 trillion in 1999.
But in the 2000s with the dot-com crash and the response to 9/11 government spending began to accelerate, reaching $4 trillion in 2004 and $5 trillion in 2008. Then came the Crash of 2008 and government spending exploded to $6 trillion in 2010.
After a few years of modest growth during 2016 - 2019 in nominal dollars, spending soared to over 7 trillion in 2021 due to COVID-19 and the Biden Administration's wealth redistribution agenda. The fiscal year budget for 2024 is 6.75 Trillion.
And the media? Can you imagine at one time CNN and NBC were actually unbiased?
Yes the threats to democracy are real but the threat is not Donald Trump it is government overreach.
And today would be my father's 92nd birthday.
3 comments:
In 1990 your dad treated me and my $500 as if I were the king of Charlotte. He invited me to his incredible office in the jukebox building to find out the objectives I wanted. Over a few years, he and your sister helped to teach me lessons I still use- high quality mutual funds, dollar cost averaging and consistent investing.
I used that original nest egg for college expenses and drifted away from them, but the respect he gave me and the money lessons he taught me are the primary reason for my financial independence today. Kudos CM! As a long time reader, now I truly understand what stock you are from. Thank you for all the writings for oh so long!
He may have made a whopping $10 on my account but I have sown so many dividends from his words, that picture sent a flood of positive memories and a few tears down my cheek.
If fiscal conservatism and opposition to government overreach are the ideal and you think Trump is your guy....then the record matters — past and present.
Here are the facts
Fiscal record: First term
Donald Trump added nearly $8 trillion to the national debt in one term.
Critically, about $4.8 trillion was added before COVID, during a strong economy. Deficits rose every single year he was in office.
The 2017 tax cuts reduced federal revenue by roughly $1.5–$2 trillion without any meaningful spending cuts or entitlement reform. That permanently embedded higher deficits into the budget.
Trump repeatedly signed bipartisan spending bills that raised spending caps, increased military and domestic spending, and openly stated he was unconcerned about deficits.
This is not fiscal restraint. It is debt-financed governance.
How he’s tracking now, So far, the pattern is continuity, not correction:
No structural deficit reduction
No entitlement reform
Continued reliance on executive authority rather than legislative discipline
Large defense and enforcement spending priorities preserved or expanded
Deficits and debt continuing to grow, driven increasingly by interest costs
In short: the same approach that produced record debt before is being repeated, with fewer remaining guardrails and far less fiscal room for error.
Self-enrichment and conflicts of interest
Trump never divested from his businesses. He blurred the line between public office and private profit, normalizing conflicts that previous presidents avoided.
During and after his first term:
Trump-owned properties benefited from political patronage
Branding, licensing, and merchandise monetized the presidency itself
New ventures (including crypto-related activity and collectibles) directly tied personal wealth to political influence
At the same time, family members and close allies entered investment spaces that overlapped with government policy, regulation, or contracts — creating the appearance, and often the reality, of self-dealing.
That is not capitalism. It is state power leveraged for private gain.
Using government to settle personal grievances
Trump repeatedly signaled that government agencies should be used against rivals and critics:
Public threats toward media companies and broadcasters
Pressure on regulators and law enforcement
Calls to revoke licenses or investigate opponents
A willingness to weaponize agencies when loyalty was questioned
When the FCC, DOJ, or other institutions are treated as tools of personal retaliation, the rule of law becomes conditional — and everyone is at risk.
Continued...
ICE and civil liberties
Trump dramatically expanded ICE’s authority and enforcement posture, pushing tactics that courts and civil rights groups repeatedly flagged as unconstitutional:
Warrantless arrests and detentions
Stops and raids without probable cause
Use of unmarked federal agents
Detention without timely access to counsel
Family separation as a deterrence policy
Federal courts blocked or limited several of these practices for violating due process and Fourth Amendment protections.
Expanding law-enforcement power while weakening oversight is not limited government. It is centralized authority exercised against the most vulnerable — a precedent that never stays confined.
Transparency and the Epstein files (the closer)
Finally, accountability.
Despite years of litigation and court orders acknowledging the public’s right to access records related to Jeffrey Epstein, only a small fraction of those materials have been publicly released, with many documents remaining sealed or heavily redacted.
Regardless of who is implicated, selective transparency in cases involving powerful people erodes public trust. A government committed to accountability does not slow-walk disclosure when it is politically or personally inconvenient.
The bottom line
You can argue culture, personality, or political style.
But on the core issues:
Fiscal responsibility
Limited government
Civil liberties
Transparency
Rule of law
The record is consistent — and troubling.
Trump did not restrain government.
He expanded it.
He did not control spending.
He accelerated it.
He did not separate public power from private gain.
He blurred it.
If government overreach is the threat, then facts matter — even when they’re uncomfortable.
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