Death by a thousand cuts. Or in the case of the efficiency of the U.S. economy, by at least four: Energy policy, health care policy, trade union resurgence, and fiscal madness.

Start with energy. Barack Obama says our entire energy sector needs a makeover. Never mind that we are fortunate to live in a country in which inexpensive energy has produced the world’s most productive agriculture, a population capable of navigating America’s huge spaces in air-conditioned comfort, and permitted the substitution of energy-plus-brain-power for back-breaking labor. Obama is going to fix it with wind that sometimes blows, solar power where the sun sometimes shines, and perhaps even nuclear power. Cost is no object.