Sophie Gunderson, Chapter 4, Question 5

The role of the government and the politics that goes along with it is something that can be argued about endlessly around the globe. It is even a common phrase that there are two things you should not talk about: politics and religion. Well, in this chapter, Charles Wheelan discusses just how good and tragically bad a government can be. 

First this chapter centered around the amount of influence that is fitting for a government to have on its markets. Through many examples Wheelan explores the do's and don't's in government regulation and influence. With too much regulation, market flow is interfered with and it could be costly to profits of the market itself. In communist countries, regulation and monopolies are what they rely on and what they like. However, in the United States, the market prefers to receive little regulation from the government so monopolies don't always form and capitalism expands.

The second thing Wheelan focuses on is taxes. People could be, and have been, arguing about taxes for years! Wheelan points out the reason we don't lower tax rates to "increase revenue" because it won't increase the government revenue at all. In fact, it will most likely lower it. Throughout the world, taxes are argued at every level of government and it will be a rare day of we see people agree on one specific form of taxation. Furthermore, taxes can be increasingly helpful or detrimental to the economy as a whole. 

Overall, this chapter focused on very controversial issues that I have heard in conversations since childhood and will continue to hear. As a working citizen and not a very strong politician, I follow the regulations put in place because I trust the reasoning behind their placements and the people elected to place them there.