Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

November 27, 2009

Wherever taxation and regulation become onerous, a black market or ?shadow economy? will take root and flourish. In fact, the size of a so-called shadow economy is a telling indication of the size and intrusiveness of the government and the health of the ?official? economy.

That being the case, what can we learn from the fact that, as the Christian Science Monitor recently reported, America?s ?shadow economy? is ?larger than the official output of all but the upper crust of nations across the globe.? Some economists estimate that the American ?shadow economy? amounts to roughly 8 percent of the American Gross Domestic Product, or roughly $1 trillion.

As the economic contraction accelerates, the ?shadow economy? is growing; people are going into unlicensed ?necessity businesses? as a matter of simple survival.

In the old Soviet Union, the black market was the only thing that kept people from starving. Given the radical expansion of government and corresponding wreckage of the economy, Americans may have similar experiences in our future.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.