Who Created the IPhone, Apple or the Government?

June 20 (Bloomberg) -- Albert Einstein famously held theview that “imagination is more important than knowledge.” Whatwe think we know can limit what we see as possible. The greatestthinkers challenge what everyone believes to be obvious. Theyallow us to see the world anew.

We may be primed for another lesson, this time ineconomics. It has been “obvious” to most people over the past 30years that the creative dynamism of the free market, the energyof private individuals pursuing their own dreams, is the bestdriver of economic innovation. The global economy carries theindelible imprint of the brilliant visionaries who createdcompanies such as Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. and Google Inc.Innovation is a private affair, best left free of the typicallysluggish and wasteful interference of government.