Laissez+Faire

Definition: Laissez Faire is the belief that the government should not interfere in the economy.

 Explanation: Laissez Faire comes from the French term "let alone". It is a Republican term because Republicans favored strong state government. Thomas Jefferson (who was a Republican) strongly believed in it. An example of Laissez Faire is when Jefferson reduced the number of people in the government, fired all the tax collectors and cut the number of U.S. diplomats. He believed that the best way to go was to limit the federal government's power over the states.

politico.com, author M. Wuerker.

 This picture pertains to the word "laissez faire" because one of the likely causes of the 2008 financial crash was insufficient government regulation of banks and other financial markets. In the picture the financial institutions that are drowning are are being saved by the U.S. taxpayer which is the U.S. government. Even though they don't want the U.S. government regulating their businesses (i.e laissez faire) they are anxious to be saved by the government.

 One current event that relates to "laissez faire" is the financial crisis of 2008. A lot of people believe that if the government had more overlook on the economy than it would never have happened.

 I believe that the most important sentence in the Social Studies book about laissez faire is "The new president (Jefferson) thought that under Washington and Adams the federal government had become too involved in economic affairs." I believe this is an important sentence because it is explaining how much he believed in laissez faire.

Sophie1