The press has been keeping careful count of the number of “czars” that President Obama has appointed, a “czar” being someone who has responsibility over particular policy matters such as, for example, cyber security, automobile company bankruptcies, and the like.
The appointment of such specialists is nothing new and reflects the arteriosclerosis of the Cabinet system. Rather than bemoan the proliferation of czars, perhaps entrepreneurs should be calling for their own economic growth czar. This person would be reporting to the President about the growth effects, positive and negative, of all new regulations and legislation with a special emphasis upon the need for more open trade, greater access to low cost investment capital, and a corporate governance system built on something more useful than resentment of people trying to get wealthy by building their companies, a process that, after all, creates jobs.