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has been consistently selfdestructive to the economies of those countries pursuing it to any

degree.

The best way to shut down corporate welfare is to have a yes or no vote on a

package of corporate spending subsidies identified for elimination by an independent

commission. That commission could be modeled after the successful military base closing

initiative. Silicon Valley CEOs would support a fair proposal to cut corporate subsidies,

as attested by the list of names in the Appendix. The commission mechanism allows

Congress to avoid the lose-lose proposition of voting either for more corporate welfare or

against a subsidy for a home-state corporation.

Corporate Welfare vs. The American Dream

The American Constitution guarantees the people's right to be free; they own

themselves, their intellectual and physical property, and their money. The markets were to

be free, and the new government was to be given only limited, enumerated powers.2

Those powers not enumerated were specifically reserved to the people. It was

unconstitutional to levy an income tax on individuals. Our forefathers wanted "the

government off of our backs and out of our pockets," to use a Ronald Reagan phrase.

That first-ever, morally profound decision to organize a country "by the people, of

the people, and for the people" led to the most rapid improvement in the well-being of the

common man in history. During our first 220 years, the per capita U.S. GDP grew from

$60 in 1776 (equivalent to $919 in 1996 dollars) to $28,540 in 1996.3 GDP per capita

grew at an unprecedented rate of 458 percent per century from 1776

to 1996, effectively doubling every 40 years. It took mankind 30,000 years to reach a per

capita income level of $919 per year; then America catapulted its citizens from $919 to

$28,540 in just 220 years (see Figure 1).4

The doubling of income every 40 years gave rise to the American Dream--the

expectation that every new generation in America would be better off than the previous

generation. Something special happened in America in 1776: the common people decided

to stop serving government and to mandate that government serve them, and they

prospered as never before.

Figure 1

GDP per Capita (1996 dollars)