Let Markets Build America’s Future

Originally published on Substack. 

​Jamie Dimon is correct that America’s national security depends on a strong and resilient economy. Where he’s especially on target is in emphasizing that the private sector must lead—through innovation, competition, and investment—not by depending on Washington to pick winners and losers.

But today, too many policymakers on both the left and right are doing the opposite. Instead of removing barriers so markets can thrive, they’re using industrial policy, subsidies, and tariffs to control outcomes. Those are the very obstacles Dimon warned about, and they’re undermining America’s capacity to grow stronger through free enterprise.

​In his Wall Street Journal op-ed, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon announced a $1.5 trillion “Security and Resiliency Initiative” to mobilize capital toward critical industries like semiconductors, energy, and defense. His call to speed up permitting, expand vocational training, and remove bureaucratic delays reflects the pro-growth, pro-market reforms America urgently needs.

If private investors see profitable opportunities in rebuilding supply chains and modernizing infrastructure, they should absolutely pursue them. That’s how a market economy adapts—through entrepreneurs risking their own capital, guided by profit and disciplined by loss. Dimon’s approach recognizes that government’s role is to clear obstacles, not command outcomes.

Unfortunately, both national conservatives and progressive planners have drifted toward using government as an investment bank. The Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act poured tens of billions of taxpayer dollars into select semiconductor firms, promising to rebuild manufacturing but instead fueling lobbying races and regulatory delays. On the right, President Trump’s tariffs and farm bailouts prove that protectionism and subsidies are hidden taxes on American families. Tariffs raise many consumer prices and bailouts reward dependency, not resilience.

These are two sides of the same coin: government trying to direct markets instead of trusting them.

​At the local level, this mindset shows up in so-called “economic development” projects that are really corporate welfare. In my latest Kansas Policy Institute article, I noted how Kansas City’s push in Kansas and Missouri for taxpayer-funded stadiums for the Chiefs and Royals repeats the same mistake. Politicians promise new jobs and growth, but decades of research show publicly financed stadiums rarely deliver. They simply transfer wealth from working families to billionaire owners.

Meanwhile, Denver provides a better example in Colorado. The city’s redevelopment around Coors Field and Empower Field rely on private financing and organic growth, not taxpayer handouts. Investors are taking the risk, consumers reward value, and communities prosper. That’s real economic development—driven by the market, not by mandates.

As Bob Hellman, CEO of American Infrastructure Partners, wrote recently at WSJ in “Private Investors Can Build Bridges”, “private capital can—and should—play a leading role in rebuilding America’s infrastructure.”

He’s right. Private investment brings accountability and efficiency because investors must earn returns by delivering results. Government projects, by contrast, are funded regardless of performance and prone to cost overruns and political influence.

A real roadmap for economic resilience looks like this:

1. End corporate subsidies and stadium deals. Private projects should rely on private capital.
2. Eliminate tariffs and protectionist barriers. Free trade benefits consumers and producers alike.
3. Streamline permitting and regulation. Make it faster to build and innovate.
4. Control government spending and taxes. Keep resources in the productive private economy.
5. Let competition—not politics—drive progress. Markets allocate resources far better than mandates.

If policymakers want a stronger America, they should follow the examples Dimon and Hellman highlight: empower private enterprise, reduce red tape, and trust the market process. That’s how we build resilience and prosperity from the ground up.

Final Thoughts

America doesn’t need more government direction—it needs more freedom to produce. Prosperity arises from voluntary exchange and accountability through profit and loss, not political favor.

Government’s proper role is to protect property rights, enforce contracts, and remove barriers that hinder growth. Everything else belongs to entrepreneurs, innovators, and workers who create value every day.

That’s how we keep America secure, prosperous, and free.