This article details new plans federal Opportunity Zones. Opportunity Zones are a collection of 8700 economically struggling areas throughout the U.S., hand-picked by America's governors and approved through the Treasury. The Opportunity Act offers significant tax savings to investors on captital gain if they choose to invest in projects occuring in one of these zones. If investors invest money into these project for ten years of longer, they are awarded tax forgiveness, encouraging long term investments and discouraging finvstors from chasing quick profits.
One theme from this block that we as a class have discussed is the fdifference between economic liberalism and mercatilism. This article discusses an act working its way through Congress which is aimed at distributing funds to poorer areas. Economic liberalists would oppose this act, because the government is clearly interfering with the invisible hand of the market. Mercantilists would support it, because if the market was left to its own devices, poor areas such as South Bend, Indiana and Dayton, Ohio would continue to struggle. According to mercantilists, the purpose of economic activity is to create wealth, and government interference guides the indvisble hand in allocating the wealth proportionately. Only time will tell what the consequencese of this act will be.