Uncle Sam Cant Count: A History of Failed Government Investments, from Beaver Pelts to Green Energy

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Thus, when Fulton sailed the North River up the Hudson River on a hot summer day in August , he had built the first viable steamboat and had just begun the first steamboat line with any measure of success. Fulton opened up new possibilities in transportation, marketing and city building. The monopoly also kept ticket prices high. Gibbons asked Vanderbilt to run steamboats in New York and charge less than the monopoly rates. Vanderbilt was intrigued by the challenge of breaking the Fulton monopoly.

He became a popular figure on the Atlantic as he lowered the fares and eluded the law. Finally, in , in the landmark case of Gibbons v. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that only the federal government, not the states, could regulate interstate commerce. This extremely popular decision opened the waters of America to competition.

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On the Ohio River, steamboat traffic doubled in the first year after Gibbons v. Ogden and quadrupled after the second year.

After Words with Burton Folsom

The real value of removing the Fulton monopoly was that the costs of traveling upriver dropped. Alexander Graham Bell sat calmly in his rowboat, camera in hand. Suddenly, Langley signaled, and his flying machine took off from the nearby houseboat into the air. After a wobbly start, the two wings steadied, the small engine buzzed and the unmanned plane soared over the Potomac River in a circular path.

Bell was so excited, he almost forgot to snap the picture. Langley clocked the flight at 90 seconds and computed the distance at a half-mile. But he needed money. Teddy Roosevelt, assistant secretary of war, was especially exuberant: It seems to me worthwhile for this government to try whether it will not work on a large enough scale to be of use in the event of war.

Langley made his top priority the building of an engine, light in weight and strong in power. But a bicycle mechanic named Wilbur Wright disagreed. He concluded, after studying Langley and his work carefully, that stressing engine power over glider maneuvering was wrong. He wanted to invent the airplane, in part, to make a profit. But Will knew that to make a plane that people would want to buy, or to fly in, he would have to invent one that could fly safely in all kinds of weather.

Books by Burton Folsom

What good was a plane that could be used to drop bombs, deliver mail or carry passengers if it was regularly grounded by even light winds? Langley, by contrast, wanted fame but not profits. Simply put, federal officials don't have the same abilities or incentives as entrepreneurs. In addition, federal control always produces political control of some kind. Uncle Sam Can't Count is filled with examples of government failures and free market triumphs, including.

Uncle Sam Can't Count is a hard-hitting critique of a government completely incapable of either picking winners or learning from its many mistakes, which demonstrates why business should be left to private entrepreneurs. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? Read more Read less. Kindle Cloud Reader Read instantly in your browser. Customers who bought this item also bought.

Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. The Myth of the Robber Barons: New Deal or Raw Deal?: The Collected Works of Leonard E. Editorial Reviews From the Back Cover In their fascinating history of government misadventure, Burton and Anita Folsom show why the Obama administration's urge to pick winners and losers in the private sector is doomed to fail. Uncle Sam Can't Count is filled with examples of government failures and free market triumphs, including John Jacob Astor, who owned a fur company that defeated a government-funded rival—supported by George Washington himself—by actively cooperating in trade with the Native Americans instead of trying to tell them what they wanted.

The Wright brothers, who, with two thousand dollars of their own money, successfully flew the first manned flight, while the government threw money at Samuel Langley, whose two failed attempts at flight both landed in the Potomac River. George Mitchell, who spent seventeen years developing fracking, after the high taxes on oil drilling were repealed, while the government subsidized ethanol.

Product details File Size: Broadside e-books April 15, Publication Date: April 15, Sold by: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. Read reviews that mention government investments uncle sam wright brothers crony capitalism government subsidies burt folsom sam count fur trade market entrepreneurs free markets political entrepreneurs book goes government failure government subsidized examples where government failures of government authors business economic failed.

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There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Fur trading, canals, railroads, airplanes, ocean liners The US and in many cases, British government funded or subsidized their development. In just about every one of those cases independent entrepeneurs took on the subsidized builders and developers, and delivered a better, cheaper, product.

John Jacob Astor built up a fur trading operation that delivered better products at lower cost than did his government subsidized competitor, and had better relations with his Native American trDing partners, too. Cornelius Vanderbuilt took on the subsidized British shipping and passenger line, with better, safer,and cheaper ships and rates.

The Wright Brothers developed the first controlled, practical, heavier than air craft while spending about five percent of whatbthe Federal Government was paying Samuel Langley to develop his impractical craft. Drawing on examples from the nation's past and present—the fur trade to railroads, cars and chemicals, aviation to Solyndra— Uncle Sam Can't Count a sweeping work of conservative economic history that explains why the federal government cannot and should not pick winners and losers in the private sector, including the Obama administration.

Draining the Treasury of cash, they impede economic growth, and hurt the very companies receiving aid. Why does federal aid seem to have a reverse Midas touch? As the Folsoms reveal, federal officials don't have the same abilities or incentives as entrepreneurs. In addition, federal control always equals political control of some kind.

What is best for politicians is not often what works in the marketplace. Politicians want to win votes, and they can do so by giving targeted CEOs benefits while dispersing costs to others.

Filled with examples of government failures and free market triumphs, from John Jacob Astor to the Wright Brothers, World War II amphibious landing craft to Detroit, Uncle Sam Can't Count is a hard-hitting critique of government investment that demonstrates why business should be left exclusively to private entrepreneurs.

New Deal or Raw Deal?

Editorial Reviews

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