Headlines Like This Are Part of the Problem …

Economy |
By David Stokes | Read Time 1 minute

I have a lot of problems with the wording of this headline. Don’t get me wrong — I love KMOX and am listening online to The Charlie Brennan Show as I type this. But this is exactly the type of headline, and media story, that gets people to buy into the blatantly false idea that it is the government’s job to get people out of poverty and manage the economy.

Even if you are of the regrettable belief that it is the proper role of government to manage the economy, headlines like this make it sound like the government somehow is good at doing that. Which it ain’t. Seriously, does anyone believe that even one family is going to be lifted out of the cycle of poverty because the Board of Aldermen and the mayor passed an ordinance? I am not criticizing the elected officials, here; I am just pointing out that headlines like this reinforce economic ignorance.

About the Author

David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.

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