Dwelt a miner, forty-niner

Actually, the California Gold Rush started, not in 1849, but in January 1848 when gold was found in Coloma, California. Though it is difficult to be precise, it is thought that gold worth many billions of dollars in current values was extracted, a great deal of money and a great contribution to the USA economy. For example, San Francisco grew from a few hundred residents before the discovery of gold to almost 40000 residents in a very short time. This was growth through exploitation of US natural resources (and miners) and not through exploitation of US ingenuity (though, no doubt, many miners were ingenious), which had a multiplier affect throughout the US economy, thus increasing federal government income.

 

Economic faith, economic reason

It is far more difficult to combat faith than it is to combat reason and knowledge. A faith that there can be such a thing as a “free” market, or unambiguously “private” property, is difficult to shake.

Take the notion of a free market: there is no exact definition, but try “An economic system where prices, wages and trade are unregulated and prices are determined by competition between businesses”.  There has never been a truly free market because a “free market” is an ideal and interesting idea but, unfortunately, it is an ideal lodged in faith. The free market article of faith cannot cope with a complex society, because regulations exist at all levels of society protecting private property and public speech, enforcing contracts, plus a myriad of other things.