Quote from cleveland45:
#1 standing in the world economy was made possible by US capitalism, not government...
Entrepreneurial capitalism, that is. Oh, and the relative powerlessness of the native population sitting on top of vast, untapped resources. Still, it couldn't have been done without government protectionism in the form of quotas and tariffs. Government was business's essential ally in the early days. Now it's owned by business, sadly.
It's interesting to note that as the protections have been withdrawn, at the urging of our international companies, of course, that large sectors of the US economy are in dire straits, losing jobs, as cheap imports flood in. If it weren't for continuing anti-dumping and counter-vailing duties provisions, imposed by government, business would be in even worse shape.
I see it nearly everyday in my line, the greatest driver of government involvement into the economy is business itself, good old "free market" business.