1 00:00:00,900 --> 00:00:03,600 Welcome to Keith's night. Don't try to anyone and the 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,200 libertarian Institute. Today, I am joined by. 3 00:00:06,300 --> 00:00:10,300 Lawrence W, read of Lawrence W read.com. 4 00:00:10,300 --> 00:00:14,600 He is the president emeritus of the foundation for economic 5 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:16,300 education. One of my favorite 6 00:00:16,300 --> 00:00:18,400 organizations. Mr. Reed, thank you so much for 7 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:20,100 your time. Hey, it's my pleasure. 8 00:00:20,100 --> 00:00:21,700 Keith. Thanks again for having me. 9 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:26,000 Of course, what are historical narratives and why are they 10 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,700 important? Well historical narratives. 11 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:34,100 Let's say in contrast to a straight documentary tells a 12 00:00:34,100 --> 00:00:41,300 story that has a genuinely true background to it, at least, but 13 00:00:41,300 --> 00:00:45,200 often the characters are imagined or the specific 14 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:51,400 situations are created and then you write it, you know, as if it 15 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:56,000 happened that's it's not something it's not the style in 16 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,900 which I personally write, I tend to write nonfiction. 17 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,500 Shouldn't period. But historical narratives, 18 00:01:03,500 --> 00:01:06,600 traditionally blend both fiction and nonfiction. 19 00:01:08,100 --> 00:01:11,100 So why are those so important? It? 20 00:01:11,100 --> 00:01:15,500 Seems like, well, the past is the past regardless of whatever 21 00:01:15,500 --> 00:01:17,900 happened. Let's just focus on the future. 22 00:01:18,900 --> 00:01:22,200 Well, I think they tend to be very entertaining and as long as 23 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,800 people go into them, knowing that, you know, they are not 24 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,400 word for word documentaries, that they do involve imaginary 25 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:36,100 situations and characters, but with a genuinely accurate 26 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,100 backdrop. I think they can tell stories, 27 00:01:40,100 --> 00:01:43,800 they can make points. They can advance principles with 28 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,600 a background that people can relate to it, because they know 29 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,600 something about history. Karl Marx, would generally say 30 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,100 things like, they're The Narrative of History. 31 00:01:54,100 --> 00:01:57,900 It's we had slavery, and then feudalism, and then capitalism. 32 00:01:58,100 --> 00:02:02,700 Therefore, The Logical move in this, but good direction would 33 00:02:02,700 --> 00:02:05,400 later be dictatorship of the proletariat. 34 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,400 And then communism, abolition of private property, if you want to 35 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:14,400 give people sort of a narrative to live by who will Advocate 36 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,500 libertarianism or conservatism something in this. 37 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:23,600 Small, government, voluntary realm, would you more or less a 38 00:02:23,700 --> 00:02:26,200 creative story? Would you have sort of pillars 39 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,800 like, Marx, did where we're sort of moving in this direction? 40 00:02:29,900 --> 00:02:33,400 How would you give someone a kind of story to be a part of 41 00:02:33,900 --> 00:02:37,400 well, to begin with? I would not use the style of 42 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:44,500 Karl Marx use, because that was more like prophecy by someone 43 00:02:44,500 --> 00:02:49,000 who was not a prophet. He had no idea what the A future 44 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,900 held and to suggest that history is governed by certain 45 00:02:53,300 --> 00:02:57,000 predetermined stages and at some distant point in the future. 46 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,700 One stage will give rise to the next really was just pure 47 00:03:00,900 --> 00:03:07,200 supposition, there's no fact factual case or logic to it, 48 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:12,700 it's just Karl, Marx deciding he wanted to fit his ideological 49 00:03:12,700 --> 00:03:16,700 narrative into future history, that hadn't happened yet. 50 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:18,900 And of course, we know how in a Sure. 51 00:03:18,900 --> 00:03:22,300 He was not only in his prophecies for the future but in 52 00:03:22,300 --> 00:03:25,600 the way he understood economics and human nature. 53 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:27,900 So I wouldn't use his Approach at all. 54 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:33,100 My personal approach is, I mean, I'm very much of a nonfiction 55 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:40,800 writer but I see the value in things like novels or historical 56 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:45,600 narrative that is partially novelized because again, people 57 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,300 can relate to the background in which the Situations and 58 00:03:49,300 --> 00:03:52,200 characters develop because they are somewhat aware of it. 59 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,300 It's not a totally new, it's not like, writing something about 60 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,100 life on some planet, we haven't yet discovered. 61 00:03:58,100 --> 00:04:00,400 I mean, which case everything is made up. 62 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:06,300 When it comes to the beginning of American History, the New 63 00:04:06,300 --> 00:04:11,800 York Times has sort of pinned the 19th, the 1619 project as 64 00:04:11,900 --> 00:04:14,000 the beginning of American History. 65 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:15,300 The new beginning. Why? 66 00:04:15,300 --> 00:04:19,200 Because this is, when the first slaves were brought to America. 67 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:23,300 When it comes to the history of slavery in America, where do 68 00:04:23,300 --> 00:04:25,300 mainstream historians, get it wrong. 69 00:04:25,300 --> 00:04:30,200 If at all Well, mainstream historians by and large will 70 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,700 part company with the 1619 narrative from The New York 71 00:04:34,700 --> 00:04:38,200 Times. That that particular narrative 72 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:43,700 is a classic example of somebody deciding here is my Ideology. 73 00:04:43,700 --> 00:04:48,700 Now, how do I shape history that already happen to fit my 74 00:04:48,700 --> 00:04:50,900 narrative? How can I pick and choose among 75 00:04:50,900 --> 00:04:55,200 things in the past? So as to seemingly verify the 76 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,700 ideology or the narrative I have, Predetermine. 77 00:04:58,500 --> 00:05:01,100 I don't think that's either history or good storytelling 78 00:05:01,100 --> 00:05:06,700 that's a perversion of History. I think the best approach is to 79 00:05:06,700 --> 00:05:10,500 look at all things to the extent, we can that happened and 80 00:05:10,500 --> 00:05:15,500 try to identify certain patterns or themes or character traits. 81 00:05:15,500 --> 00:05:21,900 That seem to stand out as a determinant of, of events of the 82 00:05:21,900 --> 00:05:24,700 day. If you do that, then the the 83 00:05:24,700 --> 00:05:31,700 episode in 1619 Is, but one of many instances in American 84 00:05:31,700 --> 00:05:37,000 history and Harley defining of what America was or became. 85 00:05:37,500 --> 00:05:44,300 I think you could pick say the Mayflower Compact, which was in 86 00:05:44,300 --> 00:05:51,200 1620 and say, well, that's the defining instance or episode in 87 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:53,400 American history. That has so much to say about 88 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,600 what came afterwards and Mayflower Compact was between 89 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:01,300 the Pilgrims and the other half of the crew or the, or I should 90 00:06:01,300 --> 00:06:05,400 say, the passenger list of the Mayflower in which they agreed 91 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:09,100 voluntarily to a representative form of government once they 92 00:06:09,100 --> 00:06:12,200 landed. That, that tells you more about 93 00:06:12,300 --> 00:06:16,200 really what happened in America afterwards with all of its 94 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,800 flaws, including slavery. But those are flaws in most 95 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:24,800 cases that we have since conquered and they are not flaws 96 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,900 that are or ever work a killer. ER to this country, America did 97 00:06:28,900 --> 00:06:33,700 more in many cases in many ways to end the slavery of the 98 00:06:33,700 --> 00:06:36,500 individual in one form or another that just about any 99 00:06:36,500 --> 00:06:38,300 other country in the history of the world. 100 00:06:39,500 --> 00:06:43,900 One of the things I noticed when I sort started studying history 101 00:06:44,100 --> 00:06:48,100 was while slavery and colonialism did exist in 102 00:06:48,100 --> 00:06:51,700 America's past. It's one of the probably if they 103 00:06:52,700 --> 00:06:57,500 least unique thing about America or the West in general, It's the 104 00:06:57,500 --> 00:07:00,800 least unique thing. I mean there's a tablet the code 105 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,600 of your namu. I think it's like 2,000 years 106 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,500 old. They're 9 of the 34 laws talk 107 00:07:06,500 --> 00:07:10,200 about slavery. Why is the least unique thing 108 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,000 about American history, constantly being put at the 109 00:07:13,008 --> 00:07:15,700 center of the American discussion? 110 00:07:16,700 --> 00:07:19,900 Well, I think the people who do that, who make that error, try 111 00:07:19,900 --> 00:07:23,500 to make slavery such a centerpiece and determining 112 00:07:23,500 --> 00:07:26,100 factor of just about everything else I think. 113 00:07:26,900 --> 00:07:30,400 They first had decided what their personal agendas are and 114 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,300 then they are taking certain events out of context and 115 00:07:34,300 --> 00:07:38,600 blowing them up into things far, more determined active of our 116 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:44,900 history than they ever were. Yeah, if you look at slavery, I 117 00:07:44,900 --> 00:07:48,600 mean that's something that has Afflicted almost every corner of 118 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,100 the globe, ever. Certainly every continent but 119 00:07:51,100 --> 00:07:54,800 Antarctica has had at one time or another slavery. 120 00:07:55,300 --> 00:07:59,300 And at one time You could say that the great majority of 121 00:07:59,300 --> 00:08:04,700 people living were slaves or serfs or at least had to live in 122 00:08:04,700 --> 00:08:08,100 constant fear of the people with political power. 123 00:08:08,100 --> 00:08:10,800 That was the order of the day for most of human history. 124 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,900 America came along and not by itself, but with a few other 125 00:08:14,900 --> 00:08:19,400 places as well within a hundred years or so America came along 126 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,600 and said hey it doesn't have to be that way and we're going to 127 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,600 start freeing people up. They we didn't do it all in one 128 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:29,900 Fell Swoop but We created a system which allowed us over 129 00:08:29,900 --> 00:08:34,400 time to perfect and improve the condition of human Liberty. 130 00:08:34,500 --> 00:08:37,700 And although we still have work to do, we've gone further in 131 00:08:37,708 --> 00:08:39,900 that direction than just about anybody else. 132 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:45,400 I want to give you a general summary of what I had learned at 133 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:50,300 Arizona, State University and in high school, you tell me if this 134 00:08:50,300 --> 00:08:53,900 is accurate inaccurate, or what's missing, okay? 135 00:08:53,900 --> 00:08:58,000 In the industrial revolution, you had the robber barons, 136 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,600 Carnegie Rockefeller constantly, the strong exploiting the week. 137 00:09:02,700 --> 00:09:06,000 Finally after all this suffering, Teddy Roosevelt 138 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,600 stepped in with antitrust laws to protect the public from These 139 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:14,000 exploiters antitrust laws are good because they protect the 140 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,600 vulnerable from the strong. What if anything is wrong with 141 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,800 that? Could just about everything. 142 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,000 I hardly know where to begin. I know that is common mythology 143 00:09:25,900 --> 00:09:31,000 and it's simple it is you just expressed it pretty fully and a 144 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:36,000 matter of 30 seconds and it sounds plausible but it's one of 145 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,000 those things that when you dig a little deeper and you examine in 146 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:43,500 particular the Persons and the performance of certain companies 147 00:09:43,500 --> 00:09:46,900 that come under attack. So often you find very 148 00:09:47,100 --> 00:09:49,400 frequently a very different story. 149 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,400 You mentioned Rockefeller. It's for example, he's the great 150 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:58,500 Boogeyman in American economic history according to those who 151 00:09:58,500 --> 00:10:03,100 are hostile to Freedom free markets or capitalism and the 152 00:10:03,100 --> 00:10:05,600 story goes well he was a monopolist but you look a little 153 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,300 closer and you discover it that's that's a myth, you know, 154 00:10:09,300 --> 00:10:14,100 monopolies are Supposed to be firms or companies or even 155 00:10:14,100 --> 00:10:19,600 governments that restrict output and raise the price and don't 156 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,300 care much about the quality of the product and abused. 157 00:10:22,300 --> 00:10:24,700 The customer. You look at Rockefellers 158 00:10:24,700 --> 00:10:29,300 Standard Oil and you find that the price of Standards principal 159 00:10:29,300 --> 00:10:32,900 product which was kerosene in the first half century of its 160 00:10:32,900 --> 00:10:36,500 existence. It steadily fell, the price 161 00:10:36,500 --> 00:10:40,000 steadily fell dramatically from something like 40 cents a gallon 162 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,000 to Three cents a gallon and the quality of the product steadily 163 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,100 improved and yes, Rockefeller got big, but he always had to 164 00:10:48,108 --> 00:10:51,900 deal with competition, not only domestic but also very fears 165 00:10:51,900 --> 00:10:56,400 foreign competition, but because he earned a lot of money along 166 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,900 the way, which represented a mere fraction of the benefit 167 00:10:59,900 --> 00:11:02,300 that he provided to the world's consumers. 168 00:11:02,700 --> 00:11:06,000 He's often held up as greedy, Robber Baron. 169 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:11,300 But again, you look at the specifics and the Charge that he 170 00:11:11,300 --> 00:11:15,200 engaged in predatory price, cutting forces that he slashed 171 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,100 the price in order to drive people from the marketplace 172 00:11:18,700 --> 00:11:22,100 competitors and then after they were gone erased the price. 173 00:11:22,100 --> 00:11:24,700 Again there's no factual evidence for that and that was 174 00:11:24,700 --> 00:11:30,400 proven by professor John Magee. All you have to do is look at 175 00:11:30,900 --> 00:11:35,600 the Journal of Law and economics October 1958, you'll find the 176 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,200 definitive study saying that never happened. 177 00:11:38,300 --> 00:11:41,900 Rockefeller would have been foolish even to And yet that 178 00:11:41,900 --> 00:11:43,800 charge is repeated over and over again. 179 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:47,100 Teddy Roosevelt. As you mentioned is portrayed as 180 00:11:47,100 --> 00:11:49,400 well. Here's the guy who saved us with 181 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:52,400 antitrust law. The first antitrust law was in 182 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:56,000 1890 before, Teddy appeared on the scene, so you can't credit 183 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,600 him for that or blame him for that. 184 00:11:59,100 --> 00:12:01,900 It was called the Sherman Act and it was one of the most 185 00:12:01,900 --> 00:12:07,200 nebulous and ridiculous laws Congress has ever passed. 186 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:11,600 It just simply said, you know, if If you're a monopoly then the 187 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:13,900 government can come after you when we do for morale at the 188 00:12:14,500 --> 00:12:17,200 morale of down. The point is, it did not Define 189 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,300 what constitutes a monopoly, didn't describe the behavior 190 00:12:21,700 --> 00:12:25,400 that somehow does harm to Consumers and their short, 191 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:30,100 therefore should be adjudicated or reprimanded. 192 00:12:30,900 --> 00:12:33,600 It was left to subsequent law to try to put some flesh on the 193 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,300 bones. And now we know from A Century 194 00:12:36,300 --> 00:12:41,200 of scholarship that most antitrust has actually Harmed. 195 00:12:41,900 --> 00:12:44,700 Consumers, far more than it has benefited. 196 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:51,000 Let's talk about a few other people from the robber baron era 197 00:12:51,100 --> 00:12:55,900 when it comes to Cornelius Vanderbilt or Andrew Carnegie 198 00:12:55,900 --> 00:12:58,400 Henry Ford. What do we need to know about 199 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:01,400 these individuals to have an accurate understanding of what 200 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:05,900 took place in the past? I think if you look at the I 201 00:13:05,900 --> 00:13:08,800 mean you can make some positions till the cows come home. 202 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:14,800 But if you look at data that often tells a story very 203 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,800 different from what somebody's ideology would suggest. 204 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:24,100 The fact is that the service has these guys provided the products 205 00:13:24,100 --> 00:13:27,400 that they produce all during the period, that they were getting 206 00:13:27,900 --> 00:13:32,700 big in the marketplace, steadily improved, the price went down. 207 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:36,700 Competition was just as fierce when they were done with their 208 00:13:36,700 --> 00:13:41,200 work as when they began their work, you had Cornelius. 209 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:43,900 Vanderbilt, for instance, engaged in a number of 210 00:13:43,900 --> 00:13:46,200 businesses. He was in railroads he was in 211 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,400 steamships when it was in the steamship business, he had to 212 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:53,900 compete with a government subsidized steamship company. 213 00:13:54,100 --> 00:13:57,500 And this is chronicled by a great historian and good friend 214 00:13:57,500 --> 00:14:03,100 of mine Burton Folsom in his book, The Rock the middle of the 215 00:14:03,100 --> 00:14:04,000 road. Rubber Barons. 216 00:14:04,300 --> 00:14:07,600 But Vanderbilt kept saying it's a congress. 217 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:13,000 Hey why are you subsidizing this other guy to build a steamship 218 00:14:13,100 --> 00:14:16,900 line that carry passengers across the Atlantic when I can 219 00:14:16,900 --> 00:14:21,500 do it without a subsidy or do it for half the subsidy, and he 220 00:14:21,500 --> 00:14:25,100 never took the subsidy but he eventually beat the subsidized 221 00:14:25,100 --> 00:14:26,900 one simply because he was better. 222 00:14:27,300 --> 00:14:30,500 And I mean, you could say, well, isn't that evil, he did it for 223 00:14:30,500 --> 00:14:33,700 greedy purposes. Well, What? 224 00:14:33,700 --> 00:14:38,700 He's not in the charity business who is few nonprofits may be. 225 00:14:38,700 --> 00:14:42,400 But the great majority of the goods and services that make us 226 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:45,900 wealthy as a people are produced by for-profit, bottom line, 227 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,100 accountable and competitive private Enterprises. 228 00:14:50,500 --> 00:14:54,100 Vanderbilt was no exception. So I think a person really has 229 00:14:54,100 --> 00:14:59,900 to shed if they have a bias against successful people, if 230 00:14:59,900 --> 00:15:03,600 they are envious of those who have more than they do, if they 231 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,500 count other people's blessings instead of their own. 232 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:07,900 Yeah. And they're going to look at 233 00:15:07,900 --> 00:15:10,900 history within a jaundiced light and they're going to find a lot 234 00:15:10,900 --> 00:15:15,700 of villains and victims but history is rarely. 235 00:15:15,700 --> 00:15:23,000 So, simple, as that carers, your would suggest When it comes to 236 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,200 the idea of profit, it seems like people think they're making 237 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:28,800 a big point when they were a prophet seeker. 238 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:32,600 And I said yes and these evil customers only come into my 239 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:35,500 store because they want goods and services for their own 240 00:15:35,500 --> 00:15:38,600 self-interest that as if there's anything horrible with though 241 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,400 with that from an economic standpoint standpoint as the 242 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,300 president emeritus of the foundation for economic 243 00:15:45,300 --> 00:15:48,700 education, what is it that people need to have a general 244 00:15:48,700 --> 00:15:52,800 understanding of when it comes to the idea of What is the 245 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:56,100 average person missing? It's a great question. 246 00:15:56,100 --> 00:15:59,700 And it's one that I dealt with when I was teaching at Northwood 247 00:15:59,700 --> 00:16:02,600 University years ago. Because I had some students who 248 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,300 came into class as freshman thinking that profit doesn't 249 00:16:06,300 --> 00:16:09,600 that mean greed, and isn't that a bad thing? 250 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:11,900 And so, here's what I used to do. 251 00:16:11,900 --> 00:16:15,200 I used to say to students? Okay, imagine a hundred dollars 252 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:19,900 worth of stuff ingredients. Factors of production, whatever 253 00:16:19,900 --> 00:16:24,000 you want to call and some Guy takes those hundred dollars 254 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:28,400 worth of stuff and he plays with them shapes them a certain way 255 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,000 and puts them in a certain place where he thinks people will want 256 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,100 the end result. And lo and behold, people are 257 00:16:35,100 --> 00:16:39,600 willing to give him $150 for that hundred dollars worth of 258 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,300 stuff that he played around with and change transformed and 259 00:16:42,300 --> 00:16:45,200 putting the right place. Okay, well, we might say, well 260 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:48,700 he made a profit. Should we be horrified by that? 261 00:16:48,700 --> 00:16:50,800 No should say. He added value. 262 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:54,300 He took x amount. And made an X Plus, would it 263 00:16:54,300 --> 00:16:57,100 have been virtuous if he had taken that hundred dollars worth 264 00:16:57,100 --> 00:16:59,600 of stuff and turned it into something that people would only 265 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,900 give him $50 for? I mean any numbskull can do 266 00:17:02,900 --> 00:17:05,500 that. All you do is a lot of match to 267 00:17:05,500 --> 00:17:08,900 it and somebody will give you a less for it than what they would 268 00:17:08,900 --> 00:17:14,000 have before. But for you to consistently earn 269 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,200 that profit by adding value is not an easy thing to do and 270 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:19,900 entrepreneurs will tell you time and time. 271 00:17:19,900 --> 00:17:21,599 Again, they didn't succeed at everything. 272 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,000 I always had to take a risk, they failed at some things, but 273 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,200 they learn from their mistakes. They bounce back, they 274 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,000 persevered. And they please customers along 275 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:35,400 the way. So profit is sort of a measure 276 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:39,100 of service to others if you earn it it's because people are in 277 00:17:39,100 --> 00:17:40,900 effect saying by their purchases. 278 00:17:41,300 --> 00:17:45,400 What you did with that stuff is now worth more than if I had 279 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:50,600 gone out myself and borrow the ingredients on my own one final 280 00:17:50,900 --> 00:17:54,300 thing on the Robert. Ends before we move on, please 281 00:17:54,300 --> 00:17:58,500 remind me of the metrics that we could use to determine whether 282 00:17:58,500 --> 00:18:03,700 these people were parasitic or they were producers to society. 283 00:18:03,700 --> 00:18:08,600 The one that that came to mind was before we determine that, 284 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:12,000 let's see if whatever they were producing Carnegie steel, was it 285 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,800 going up in price over time? Certainly evil greedy 286 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:17,000 monopolist. We should see prices always 287 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,200 rising in steel and the workers wages. 288 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:21,800 Constantly, decreasing. What are some metrics? 289 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,400 We can use to really make sure we have an accurate 290 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:25,700 understanding. What happened? 291 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:30,400 Well, certainly the price of the product is one metric over time. 292 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,500 And in the case of Carnegie, the reason he made his money was he 293 00:18:33,500 --> 00:18:37,300 figured out how to make steel cheaper than anybody else and 294 00:18:37,300 --> 00:18:40,800 anybody who had to purchase steel for the construction of 295 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:44,900 this or that or what? Not greatly benefited by 296 00:18:45,300 --> 00:18:48,200 Carnegie's genius. That's one. 297 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,500 Measure metric. Another one would be to the 298 00:18:51,500 --> 00:18:53,300 extent. You Measure the quality of the 299 00:18:53,300 --> 00:18:56,000 product. I mean, if every time you go to 300 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,600 the store and you buy Campbell's soup, but tomato soup but it has 301 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,600 fewer tomatoes in it than the day before you can say well 302 00:19:02,700 --> 00:19:05,200 maybe the price hasn't changed but the quality of the product 303 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:10,400 certainly has well in the case of Carnegie not only did his 304 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,400 steel become cheaper, it also became better and tougher and 305 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:16,800 stronger. Another metric would be return 306 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:21,700 on investment because, you know, great entrepreneurs, rarely 307 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,300 Start out with a bundle of money, they don't start with 308 00:19:26,300 --> 00:19:29,200 their billions. They often start in their garage 309 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:33,600 and entered their genius, along with the help of their workers 310 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:35,700 and investors into something of Great Value. 311 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,100 Well, it's important to know what kind of return that they 312 00:19:39,100 --> 00:19:43,600 pay investors, because investors are what they're taking their 313 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:49,700 savings and entrusting them to this gentleman or 122. 314 00:19:52,100 --> 00:19:55,300 Engage in business and they deserve a return. 315 00:19:55,600 --> 00:20:00,500 In fact no entrepreneur is going to attract Capital if he or she 316 00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:04,500 never pays a return. So return on investment is 317 00:20:04,500 --> 00:20:08,800 another good measure and there again, you want value creation. 318 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:11,000 And that's what you get in a free Society. 319 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,400 Those who don't create value, those are subtract from it will 320 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,100 not attract investors and will not attract customers is over 321 00:20:18,100 --> 00:20:21,300 before long, their mistakes are obvious and their history. 322 00:20:22,100 --> 00:20:23,600 Or they go to work for somebody else. 323 00:20:24,100 --> 00:20:28,000 So those are among the metrics now, certainly, you'll want to 324 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:35,200 also look at conduct, I mean, you can certainly make money if 325 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,100 you cut corners and cheat people sometimes. 326 00:20:38,100 --> 00:20:42,200 But that kind of tactic tends to be short term catches up with 327 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:44,500 you. And if government is doing its 328 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:49,300 only legitimate job, it will certainly provide a legal 329 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:51,800 channel for redress of grievances on the part of 330 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,800 Summers are even competitors. But if you're an honest person 331 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:59,200 and you're adding value to society and you're taking the 332 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,400 risks needed to build an Enterprise, you will be rewarded 333 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:07,200 in the marketplace and that is the most important metric of 334 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:11,200 all, of course. And we can clearly see this when 335 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,300 it comes to the Fortune 500. If you compare it today, too, I 336 00:21:15,300 --> 00:21:19,500 think 1955, I think only 60 companies are still in there, 337 00:21:19,500 --> 00:21:22,700 there's this constant turnover, there's this Student Innovation 338 00:21:22,700 --> 00:21:26,100 that has to take place which of course, the voluntary sector 339 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,300 seldom gets gets the credit. So, that's right. 340 00:21:29,500 --> 00:21:33,400 It keeps my may add, I don't want to suggest that everybody 341 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:38,300 in business is on the up and up to the that some business people 342 00:21:38,300 --> 00:21:41,400 use their political connections to get a special favor to get 343 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,700 legislators to give them a subsidy you know, as a believer 344 00:21:44,700 --> 00:21:48,400 in Freedom and free markets, me I will suffer slowly against 345 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:51,500 that I want to Fairfield of no favors no. 346 00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:55,400 I don't want the playing field biased by the intervention of 347 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,600 politicians who try to pick winners and losers with other 348 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:01,900 people's money. So, all that I've said applies 349 00:22:01,900 --> 00:22:05,500 to Market entrepreneurs, not political entrepreneurs and 350 00:22:05,500 --> 00:22:10,400 certainly not Market entrepreneurs, who mix politics 351 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,100 in with their productive activity. 352 00:22:13,700 --> 00:22:17,000 And you use the perfect example of Edward, Collins verse 353 00:22:17,300 --> 00:22:19,000 Cornelius. Vanderbilt that what? 354 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,800 One of my favorite stories when it comes. 355 00:22:21,900 --> 00:22:26,600 As to the Great Depression, General narrative, you had this 356 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,800 unregulated capitalism, this gave us a Great Depression 357 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,800 because Herbert Hoover basically, sat back and just 358 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:36,600 said, well, it'll take care of itself. 359 00:22:36,700 --> 00:22:40,900 Fortunately, the voters got some sense into them, elected FDR, he 360 00:22:40,900 --> 00:22:44,000 gave us the New Deal that got us out of the Great Depression. 361 00:22:44,300 --> 00:22:46,700 What is wrong? If anything with what I just 362 00:22:46,700 --> 00:22:52,400 said that is certainly one of the most horrific and Aalto 363 00:22:52,400 --> 00:23:02,100 commonplace incorrect historical narratives where to start again 364 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:07,400 that narrative, I think was created and propagated over the 365 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,900 years because it fits somebody's ideology or a number of people's 366 00:23:11,300 --> 00:23:15,600 ideology. It fits neatly into the, we hate 367 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:19,700 capitalism camp. We need bigger government to 368 00:23:19,700 --> 00:23:23,700 take charge of the economy camp. But when you again, look at the 369 00:23:23,700 --> 00:23:31,100 actual facts, you'll find that Already had its depression, its 370 00:23:31,500 --> 00:23:34,100 first sort of the Federal Reserve System which is a 371 00:23:34,100 --> 00:23:36,600 creation of the government. We're still paying a price for 372 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:40,700 that monster today. They the FED expanded the 373 00:23:40,700 --> 00:23:44,400 nation's money and credit Supply by according to Murray rothbard 374 00:23:44,700 --> 00:23:49,000 65 percent or so. From 1924 to 29, we know that 375 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,800 period as the Roaring Twenties. We had good things happening. 376 00:23:52,900 --> 00:23:55,400 You had Calvin, Coolidge, cutting tax rates so that was 377 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,000 helpful. Very positive. 378 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:02,300 But at the same time you had the FED spiking the punch, creating 379 00:24:02,300 --> 00:24:07,500 a bubble, driving interest rates to record lows, this easy money 380 00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:10,600 flowing into the system. Creating a boom that would have 381 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:14,500 to sooner or later be corrected and that began in nineteen late 382 00:24:14,500 --> 00:24:18,400 1929, worth of Boston, the stock market was a classic bubble 383 00:24:18,700 --> 00:24:22,400 caused by the fed. And it was a bubble pricked by 384 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,200 the FED, which had begun to raise interest rates 385 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:28,300 dramatically as Early is early 1929. 386 00:24:28,900 --> 00:24:32,800 Well this the depression might have been only a recession and 387 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:37,600 may have ended it a year except there were a series of crazy 388 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:41,500 interventions there after that took a recession and made it a 389 00:24:41,500 --> 00:24:45,600 depression in June of nineteen. Thirty didn't have a depression 390 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:50,800 yet but President Herbert Hoover and the Congress seeing nagging 391 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,800 Lehigh on employment. Decided, hey let's close the 392 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,000 borders to trade. Let's raise. 393 00:24:56,100 --> 00:25:00,500 Is tariffs to an all-time high, the smoot-hawley Tariff Act of 394 00:25:00,500 --> 00:25:04,000 1919 30, that that's shut down World Trade. 395 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,100 It led to retaliation by other governments against American 396 00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:10,500 Goods at that. Took a recession, made it a 397 00:25:10,500 --> 00:25:12,800 depression. That's not a free market 398 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:16,800 phenomenon. That's an act of government 1932 399 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,500 in the midst of depression with unemployment 20% or so, what did 400 00:25:21,500 --> 00:25:24,000 they do? They double the income tax. 401 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:26,000 Imagine that in the midst of the depression. 402 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,000 Crashing. If you weren't already flattened 403 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,900 by the smoot-hawley Tariff. Now you're really got slammed. 404 00:25:31,500 --> 00:25:38,200 The top rate was raised from 24% to 65% and all kinds of other 405 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:42,100 taxes were raised. That was very depressing and 406 00:25:42,100 --> 00:25:45,600 then you had an election in which Franklin Roosevelt the 407 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:48,700 Democrat nominee ran against the incumbent Herbert Hoover, the 408 00:25:48,700 --> 00:25:52,100 Republican and Roosevelt said, some things that I would have 409 00:25:52,100 --> 00:25:54,600 supported. He said Herbert Hoover is the 410 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:59,700 greatest taxing and spending president in memory and we're 411 00:25:59,700 --> 00:26:02,300 going to balance the budget and cut government spending. 412 00:26:02,300 --> 00:26:04,200 Get it off your back and out of your way. 413 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:11,000 He was the less a fair candidate if there was one in 1932, so he 414 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,200 wins election. But then does just the opposite 415 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,600 of everything that he promised. And that's why you get seven 416 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,800 more years of depression because Franklin, Roosevelt being 417 00:26:21,900 --> 00:26:27,900 basically an economic ignoramus his own Closer by You're James 418 00:26:27,900 --> 00:26:31,400 Warburg made that plain in his book, hell-bent for re-election, 419 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,900 he starts jacking up taxes, which he is assailed Hoover for 420 00:26:36,900 --> 00:26:39,000 doing. But before he's done, the top 421 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:45,000 rate will go to 91% piles on the regulations price controls and 422 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,900 so forth. In other words that narrative 423 00:26:47,900 --> 00:26:53,000 that the economy was less a fair hands off, minimal government is 424 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,400 nonsense. The government caused the Great 425 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,000 Depression. Oh, and then we lingered in it 426 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:03,100 for a decade because of a series of stupid interventions 427 00:27:03,700 --> 00:27:07,300 thereafter. How does something like the 428 00:27:07,300 --> 00:27:10,600 smoot-hawley? Tariff one might say, well, yes, 429 00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,800 it restricted trade with foreigners, which is good 430 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:17,200 because it creates jobs in America and that's how you would 431 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:21,900 grow the economy. How is it that enacting tariffs 432 00:27:21,900 --> 00:27:27,200 would hurt the domestic economy. A fundamental principle Keith of 433 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:32,500 trade is that you cannot close the door to Imports without 434 00:27:32,500 --> 00:27:36,300 closing the door to exports. In other words, if foreigners 435 00:27:36,300 --> 00:27:39,700 can't sell here, because our tariffs on their goods are so 436 00:27:39,700 --> 00:27:42,300 high. Well, then how can they earn the 437 00:27:42,300 --> 00:27:45,400 dollars that they need to buy here? 438 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,800 The cars don't come from Japan. If they can't sell them here and 439 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,800 therefore, the boat doesn't go back to Japan with American 440 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,500 grain. That's why for instance, 441 00:27:55,700 --> 00:27:58,900 agriculture in America was particularly hard hit by 442 00:27:58,900 --> 00:28:01,100 smoot-hawley. It was one of our biggest, 443 00:28:01,100 --> 00:28:05,400 export Industries, about a third of what farmers were producing 444 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,600 on American Farms was destined for overseas markets. 445 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:15,000 But now with smoot-hawley foreigners can Learn Dollar on 446 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,800 farmers are stuck with all this stuff, and no markets to sell 447 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,300 it. And every business that depended 448 00:28:20,300 --> 00:28:23,300 upon the prosperity of the farmer from rural Banks to 449 00:28:23,300 --> 00:28:26,600 fertilizer companies, they go into depression as well. 450 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:32,100 So it's an easy alluring temptation to think that you 451 00:28:32,100 --> 00:28:36,700 help your economy by forcing people to not buy from a 452 00:28:36,700 --> 00:28:39,700 foreigner, but it immediately boomerangs. 453 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,000 And even if the foreign government does don't retaliate, 454 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,700 which they usually do it boomerangs anyway. 455 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,400 Simply because you've made foreign Goods, too expensive to 456 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,900 sell here, and then for his can turn the dollars, they need to 457 00:28:52,900 --> 00:28:57,800 buy from us. So we get a double-dip recession 458 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:02,500 in 1937 1939. Henry morgenthau comes out and 459 00:29:02,500 --> 00:29:05,800 says look I've been part of this Administration, we've spent more 460 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:10,200 than ever and unemployment as bad as it previously was, we've 461 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:14,100 had all this time and it hasn't given us what what what we need. 462 00:29:14,100 --> 00:29:16,700 So historians have kind of seen this and said okay. 463 00:29:16,700 --> 00:29:21,100 Okay we admit it wasn't necessarily the new deal but we 464 00:29:21,100 --> 00:29:23,900 had to try something. What really got us out was 465 00:29:24,100 --> 00:29:29,100 Entering into the second world war by conscripting 12 million 466 00:29:29,300 --> 00:29:31,900 men. The second world war got us out 467 00:29:31,900 --> 00:29:34,500 of the Great Depression. What what, what do you say to 468 00:29:34,500 --> 00:29:36,600 that? Yeah, that's another very 469 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:40,400 common, but also incorrect narrative on the surface. 470 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,000 It appears to be plausible because unemployment 471 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,000 dramatically fill with American entry into World War Two. 472 00:29:48,300 --> 00:29:52,100 Well we took 11 million men and drafted them into the workforce. 473 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:54,600 The government Workforce as Soldiers. 474 00:29:55,100 --> 00:30:00,400 They they were taken out of the domestic Workforce so they 475 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:02,400 didn't count anymore as unemployed. 476 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,700 So, yeah. You did, you take 11 million 477 00:30:04,700 --> 00:30:07,900 unemployed and and take them out of the equation. 478 00:30:07,900 --> 00:30:12,000 Your unemployment numbers got to look better but if you look at 479 00:30:13,100 --> 00:30:18,100 various measures of standards of living, during the War years at 480 00:30:18,100 --> 00:30:22,300 best, the American standard of living stagnated and that's at 481 00:30:22,300 --> 00:30:25,000 best because you can make a strong Encase that it actually 482 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:29,200 declined we had. We were instead of making 483 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:33,000 washing machines and Automobiles for domestic consumption, we 484 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:37,700 were making airplanes and tanks and guns and arguably we had to 485 00:30:37,700 --> 00:30:40,400 do that to win the war, but don't confuse that with, you 486 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,600 know, an improving economy. We had to suffer through the War 487 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,400 years with an economy at best, that was stagnating. 488 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:53,000 We didn't really see economic recovery until the war ended and 489 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:54,700 there are two big factors. Is that help? 490 00:30:54,700 --> 00:31:01,000 Explain why the depression finally came to an end in real 491 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,800 terms as well as in those more artificial ways? 492 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,400 In 1945, we had in 46, we had the biggest reduction in 493 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:13,200 government spending in American history, largely demobilization 494 00:31:13,300 --> 00:31:18,100 of the military after WWII, you know, a Keynesian Economist 495 00:31:18,100 --> 00:31:20,800 would say, uh-oh, government spending collapsed. 496 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,000 Well then we surely. We're going to have another 497 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,100 depression and some Pilar thought we would. 498 00:31:25,100 --> 00:31:28,400 But we have just the opposite because when government spending 499 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:32,100 went down what that meant was, you had vast amounts of 500 00:31:32,100 --> 00:31:35,400 resources that now could flow into the far more efficient 501 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:37,200 private sector. Now, you could make those 502 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,700 washing machines and Automobiles instead of stuff, we're going to 503 00:31:40,700 --> 00:31:44,700 blow up half a world away. That was one very beneficial 504 00:31:44,700 --> 00:31:46,600 thing, a reduction in government spending. 505 00:31:47,300 --> 00:31:52,200 But you also had a new President Harry Truman and you know, I 506 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:54,900 don't count him as one of our better ones but Was a darn sight 507 00:31:54,900 --> 00:31:58,100 better than Franklin. Roosevelt Harry Truman was not 508 00:31:58,100 --> 00:32:03,500 this new deal, you know, run roughshod over capitalism and 509 00:32:04,300 --> 00:32:06,500 kind of guy. He got rid of a lot of the 510 00:32:06,500 --> 00:32:10,500 radical new dealers and he signed on baby reluctantly, but 511 00:32:10,500 --> 00:32:14,700 he did sign on to a dramatic reduction in the corporate 512 00:32:14,700 --> 00:32:18,700 income tax rate. It went in one Fell Swoop, the 513 00:32:18,700 --> 00:32:23,900 income tax rate on corporate income went from 90 percent down 514 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:28,100 The 38% immediately after World War Two Harry Truman signed that 515 00:32:28,100 --> 00:32:30,100 into law. Well, just ask yourself if 516 00:32:30,100 --> 00:32:34,100 you're if you're a business and on one day the government's 517 00:32:34,100 --> 00:32:36,700 going to take as much as 90% of what you've earned. 518 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,500 But the next day it says, no we won't take any more than 38, 519 00:32:40,500 --> 00:32:42,900 isn't that going to affect your behavior? 520 00:32:43,300 --> 00:32:46,300 I mean, of course, it will mean, it's a dramatically improve 521 00:32:46,300 --> 00:32:50,100 situation for things like Risk, taking and expansion of your 522 00:32:50,100 --> 00:32:53,500 businesses and the hiring of new workers or so. 523 00:32:54,100 --> 00:32:58,400 Also responsible for their recovery, not the New Deal or 524 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,600 the war spending. That's simply kept us in a 525 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:06,000 prolonged depression. When it comes to the well-being 526 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,700 of, I hate the term, the workers as if entrepreneurs, don't do 527 00:33:09,700 --> 00:33:12,700 any work, as if people who don't get paid and do work around the 528 00:33:12,708 --> 00:33:15,800 house as if they're not valuable, it's ridiculous. 529 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:20,300 But when it comes to helping the Working Class People in entry 530 00:33:20,300 --> 00:33:23,900 level jobs up to working in their later years in life. 531 00:33:24,100 --> 00:33:26,900 What is it about? The free market that you 532 00:33:26,900 --> 00:33:29,000 support? That makes it a place where the 533 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:33,600 workers would greatly benefit from the free. 534 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,800 Market means such things as Choice. 535 00:33:37,300 --> 00:33:41,400 It means that you have more than one option in so many aspects of 536 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:45,200 life, whether it be as a consumer buying goods, among 537 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:49,600 competing providers who have every incentive to treat you 538 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:52,900 well. And or those who don't usually 539 00:33:52,900 --> 00:33:57,800 don't go very far or to where you want to work or even whether 540 00:33:57,800 --> 00:33:59,600 or not you want to start a business yourself. 541 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:03,800 A free market means that a man or a woman who is a worker ER 542 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:08,300 today employed by another person can become an employer tomorrow. 543 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,500 I mean, that happens in a free economy all the time. 544 00:34:11,500 --> 00:34:16,300 Everyday, most successful entrepreneurs will tell you that 545 00:34:16,300 --> 00:34:19,199 they weren't always entrepreneurs from H3. 546 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:21,800 You know, mean, they work for other people for a time, but 547 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:24,500 they had some creative genius, and some risk-taking 548 00:34:24,500 --> 00:34:27,199 willingness. And they, at one point decided, 549 00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:30,500 they wanted to create an Enterprise, a free market allows 550 00:34:30,500 --> 00:34:35,000 you to do that, the, through the competition among Employers and 551 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:39,400 the competition among creators of goods and services, every 552 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:43,400 worker benefits, you get more stuff at lower prices of better 553 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:45,500 quality. The more competition that you 554 00:34:45,507 --> 00:34:49,800 have is forming a union consistent with the principles 555 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:53,699 of free markets. It depends on what the union is 556 00:34:54,199 --> 00:34:57,100 going to do. In other words, once again, just 557 00:34:57,100 --> 00:35:00,300 as you would judge a company or should judge a company by its 558 00:35:00,500 --> 00:35:03,900 conduct and performance, you should judge unions on their 559 00:35:03,900 --> 00:35:07,200 conduct and performance. Union can perform a very 560 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:12,000 beneficial responsibility or activity. 561 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:17,300 If it brings to the attention of the employer issues in the 562 00:35:17,300 --> 00:35:20,400 workplace, that a that individual workers may feel 563 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,300 reluctant to bring Well, that's a positive contribution. 564 00:35:23,300 --> 00:35:29,200 If they enable the purchase of certain Services by their 565 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:32,900 workers in bulk at lower price. That's a way that traditional 566 00:35:32,900 --> 00:35:38,200 unions or trade associations have been beneficial, it's where 567 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:42,900 I draw the line is when a union says, now we want to claim to 568 00:35:42,900 --> 00:35:47,000 represent every worker on this site, whether they choose to be 569 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:51,600 a part of us or not, we need the compulsion of government to I'm 570 00:35:51,607 --> 00:35:55,100 in here and tell people if we get 50% plus one to join the 571 00:35:55,100 --> 00:35:56,800 union everybody else has to join. 572 00:35:57,500 --> 00:36:01,200 Even though you have the 49 plus percent that might say wait a 573 00:36:01,207 --> 00:36:03,800 minute, it's not for me I'd rather continue to bargain for 574 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,600 myself. No thanks it's compulsory 575 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:12,100 unionism that does a lot of harm and immediately it insulates to 576 00:36:12,100 --> 00:36:14,400 a considerable degree. Union leadership from the 577 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:18,300 consequences of their own bad actions because workers can say, 578 00:36:18,300 --> 00:36:22,200 no thanks. I think I'll patronize Union, or 579 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:26,100 just handle things myself. I'm in favor of choice, 580 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:29,400 competition, and accountability in every aspect of life. 581 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:34,100 So when unions employ political coercion, where they use the 582 00:36:34,100 --> 00:36:38,400 state to get special benefits that freeze-out competition, or 583 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,900 compel workers to pay dues, whether they want to or not, 584 00:36:41,900 --> 00:36:45,900 that's that's when they no longer become a, beneficial 585 00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:50,700 Organization for the workers, but become a threat every bit as 586 00:36:50,700 --> 00:36:56,400 much as big taxi government. How is it that capital 587 00:36:56,400 --> 00:37:00,200 investment and competition benefit the workers? 588 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,300 Well, without capital investment, no worker would be 589 00:37:04,300 --> 00:37:07,900 making very much a whole. I mean, think of it, capital 590 00:37:07,900 --> 00:37:10,100 investment can be thought of in two ways. 591 00:37:10,100 --> 00:37:13,800 It's number one, the funds necessary typically from 592 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,700 people's savings to buy the tools of production to start a 593 00:37:17,700 --> 00:37:23,500 business and capital investment also is can be considered those 594 00:37:23,500 --> 00:37:26,600 tools, you know, the the Machinery that enables you to 595 00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:29,600 dig the foundation for a home with a backhoe. 596 00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:34,400 Instead of a spoon. If you if you're employed to dig 597 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:38,900 a foundation for a home. But the extent of the capital 598 00:37:38,900 --> 00:37:41,000 you have at your disposal is a spoon. 599 00:37:42,100 --> 00:37:45,400 You're going to have to work awfully hard and long before you 600 00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:48,100 ever get to completing the First Foundation. 601 00:37:48,100 --> 00:37:52,500 Whereas with a backhoe you can do in a day or two, your worth. 602 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:57,400 As a worker is far greater when you have tools like, backhoes to 603 00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:02,600 get the job done, then then you're worth when or you can 604 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:04,300 produce as what you can do with a spoon. 605 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:08,600 That I think is one of the most interesting things about the 606 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,300 free market. How it's constantly harmonizing 607 00:38:11,300 --> 00:38:15,200 self-interest saying how I can't get any money out of your 608 00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,100 pocket, unless you voluntarily give it to me. 609 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:21,100 I'm not entitled to any of your time, unless you choose to spend 610 00:38:21,100 --> 00:38:24,500 it with me, and you have the right to withdraw it in the 611 00:38:24,500 --> 00:38:26,600 future. So even these things that appear 612 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:30,200 to be self-interested or even if they are self-interested, you 613 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:34,100 still are benefiting people. Besos with books, is probably 614 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:35,600 the best. Thing it's so funny. 615 00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:39,500 I heard I think it was Pat Buchanan, talking about, you 616 00:38:39,500 --> 00:38:43,400 know, the price of books were a higher number of dollars. 617 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:48,300 So even forget about inflation when he was younger or when his 618 00:38:48,300 --> 00:38:51,300 first books came out than they are today on Amazon. 619 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:54,700 They've actually decreased in price in spite of the 620 00:38:54,700 --> 00:38:58,100 quantitative easing that the federal government's given us. 621 00:38:58,100 --> 00:39:01,000 So the capital investment benefiting workers is just the 622 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,200 perfect example of harmonizing interests. 623 00:39:04,700 --> 00:39:09,900 Exactly as if politicians don't benefit yet Nancy Pelosi is 624 00:39:09,900 --> 00:39:13,000 actually a nun who works for a monastery. 625 00:39:13,100 --> 00:39:16,800 She's never profited. Chuck Schumer he's homeless. 626 00:39:16,900 --> 00:39:19,500 He just trying to help us. I'm sorry I interrupted you. 627 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:21,600 Oo. That's right. 628 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:25,300 I've often wondered at what point does the politicians 629 00:39:25,300 --> 00:39:28,700 motivations cease to be self-focused ourselves 630 00:39:28,700 --> 00:39:32,500 interested in some suddenly become other feeling and 631 00:39:32,500 --> 00:39:35,300 compassionate and and only Ston others. 632 00:39:35,300 --> 00:39:38,600 It does that happen on Election Day or does it happen on the day 633 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:41,700 or the day they take office or you know, when does that, what 634 00:39:41,700 --> 00:39:45,000 does that actually happen? But you know, Adam Smith 635 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:49,600 expressed it so well, 250 years ago when he said, if I can 636 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:53,600 remember it for Batum, he said it is not from the benevolence 637 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:57,800 or Goodwill is not from the benevolence of the butcher or 638 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:02,600 the Brewer or the baker that we get our daily sustenance, but 639 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:06,600 rather through their own For their own self-interest. 640 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,500 I mean, isn't that true? I made, you want to get somebody 641 00:40:09,500 --> 00:40:12,600 to give you something or do something for you. 642 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:16,500 There's a couple ways to do it. One, you can take a club and 643 00:40:16,500 --> 00:40:19,600 beat the crap out of them, but, you know, whatever you get is 644 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:26,000 going to likely be a one-time occurrence or you can say, hey, 645 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:30,200 I got something for you. And let me say why it would be 646 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:32,400 worth it to you, to give me what you've got. 647 00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:34,400 If I give you what I've got, I mean. 648 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:37,400 It's one way or the other folks. Either you can beat the crap out 649 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:40,200 of people to get what you want. Or you can harmonize your 650 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:43,800 desires with theirs and find peaceful Cooperative ways to 651 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:49,800 deal with them final topic on understanding of of History, 652 00:40:50,100 --> 00:40:53,400 actually, two more. When it comes to Lyndon 653 00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:56,900 Johnson's, Great Society. The big ones that come to mind 654 00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:00,400 being Medicare and Medicaid. This sort of was a 655 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:04,300 transformation from either leaving people to their own 656 00:41:04,700 --> 00:41:08,100 Says, or having unstable things as opposed to ushering in a 657 00:41:08,100 --> 00:41:12,100 social safety net, which we benefit from to this day. 658 00:41:12,300 --> 00:41:15,400 What if anything is wrong with the general understanding people 659 00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:19,900 have of, Lyndon Johnson's, Great Society programs, the Great 660 00:41:19,900 --> 00:41:24,400 Society, of course, encompassed. Number of things only expansion 661 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:28,500 in in welfare payments at entitlements. 662 00:41:28,500 --> 00:41:33,400 But also increases or new Ventures. 663 00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:36,700 I should say into To medical care for the Indigent. 664 00:41:36,700 --> 00:41:43,600 And for those of elderly age, one of the flaws in the whole 665 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:48,400 thing was the failure to look at the long-term. 666 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:52,100 A lot of these kinds of programs. 667 00:41:52,100 --> 00:41:57,100 When government first starts the month, Social Security at first 668 00:41:57,100 --> 00:42:00,100 of course, still lots of people were we took money from a lot of 669 00:42:00,100 --> 00:42:02,100 people and gave it to a very few people. 670 00:42:02,100 --> 00:42:04,500 Actuarially that would pretty good for a time. 671 00:42:05,100 --> 00:42:07,800 But all of these programs, Social Security, Medicare 672 00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,900 Medicaid, you're on the road to bankruptcy, and each time it 673 00:42:11,900 --> 00:42:14,700 looked like that was in the offing. 674 00:42:14,900 --> 00:42:18,500 Politicians would patch it up a little bit by raising taxes. 675 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:24,500 Maybe in a few cases is cutting benefits or at least adding 676 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:28,100 years to the time when you could first begin to collect and case 677 00:42:28,100 --> 00:42:33,500 of Social Security. But right now the actuaries at 678 00:42:33,500 --> 00:42:36,600 those various institutions know, full, well and have been are 679 00:42:36,700 --> 00:42:39,800 plenty of Articles written about this then in the next decade or 680 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:43,400 so. Medicaid, Medicare Social 681 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:47,300 Security are going to face calamitous financial problems 682 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,800 and that's When we may look back and decide maybe it wasn't, such 683 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:56,600 a good idea in the first place, people who want to have a secure 684 00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,600 and free and prosperous future, not only for them, but for their 685 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:03,200 grandkids need to be thinking long term, not just short-term, 686 00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:07,100 otherwise they'll go in for any, any suckers scheme, that seems 687 00:43:07,100 --> 00:43:11,700 to throw something at you. But what, you know, I often like 688 00:43:11,700 --> 00:43:16,100 to say this, I like sure a lot about Roman history and I like 689 00:43:16,100 --> 00:43:19,900 to point out, if I could go back to ancient Rome, Let's say very 690 00:43:19,900 --> 00:43:22,600 late in the Republic as Liberties were crumbling. 691 00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:26,800 And before long, they were all lost and the empire was created. 692 00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:33,000 If I could go back and speak to the Mob, say 50 BC, I would like 693 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:34,700 to say to them. Hey folks you know you've been 694 00:43:34,700 --> 00:43:39,100 on this welfare state bandwagon for a hundred years and a lot of 695 00:43:39,100 --> 00:43:41,200 you are feeling pretty good. It seems like you're getting 696 00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:43,700 more than your pay it in so what's wrong with it? 697 00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:46,900 But let me tell you I come from the future and I know where this 698 00:43:46,900 --> 00:43:50,900 is headed. It's Bankrupt society and you 699 00:43:50,900 --> 00:43:52,600 will. So we can yourselves. 700 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:55,700 You will become so dependent upon politicians future. 701 00:43:55,700 --> 00:43:59,400 Generations will care not a whit about whether they earn their 702 00:43:59,400 --> 00:44:03,800 income by theft from others, through the political process or 703 00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:07,900 through their own efforts. Your Society will so Decay that 704 00:44:07,900 --> 00:44:11,300 in my day will be reading about you in the history books as a 705 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:14,500 civilization that committed suicide and felt, they were 706 00:44:14,500 --> 00:44:16,200 having a lot of fun along the way. 707 00:44:16,500 --> 00:44:19,800 Is that what you want? And I'd like to think maybe some 708 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:22,600 of the Romans would have said, maybe we should think long term 709 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:25,900 if we don't want maybe we don't want to go down unsustainable 710 00:44:25,900 --> 00:44:30,800 paths that's that's one of the central problems of welfare 711 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:32,400 states. The fact that they make a lot of 712 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:36,500 people feel good for a time but they set into motion forces 713 00:44:36,500 --> 00:44:39,600 which destroy Society in the long run. 714 00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:45,300 If they're not turn back but I would also like to tell people 715 00:44:45,300 --> 00:44:49,800 hey you know, fundamentally something it's rooted in Wrong 716 00:44:50,100 --> 00:44:54,200 is not likely to end well. And when you Advocate things 717 00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:57,400 like government, forcible redistribution robbing Peter to 718 00:44:57,400 --> 00:45:01,400 pay Paul, you're talking about the theft and even if you're on 719 00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:04,800 the receiving end and it makes you feel good and if it makes 720 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:07,100 you feel good that other people who seem to deserve it or 721 00:45:07,100 --> 00:45:11,700 getting something you're still justifying theft, aren't there? 722 00:45:11,700 --> 00:45:15,100 Other meat is that this is that as creative as you can get, I 723 00:45:15,100 --> 00:45:18,900 mean, a free Society. The we just throw our He's to 724 00:45:18,900 --> 00:45:22,900 the politicians and in favor of the crumbs that they send our 725 00:45:22,900 --> 00:45:26,400 way and think that's the end of it, a free and creative. 726 00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:29,600 People will come up with plenty of ways to solve problems, 727 00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:33,100 sending your money to Washington laundering it through a federal 728 00:45:33,100 --> 00:45:37,600 bureaucracy that then spits out. A portion of it is the dumbest 729 00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:39,500 way to solve problems that I can think of. 730 00:45:40,300 --> 00:45:43,100 I was thinking of the high administrative costs that you 731 00:45:43,100 --> 00:45:44,900 get with something like this because there's nothing 732 00:45:45,100 --> 00:45:48,800 anti-free Market about pulling your resources together and Back 733 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:51,700 today because of free-market Innovations, it's easier than 734 00:45:51,700 --> 00:45:55,000 ever. We could have the acacio, Cortez 735 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:59,000 Healthcare fund where everyone chips in and your names on the 736 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:00,800 list. So then when you need Healthcare 737 00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:03,600 later in life, well then you get money out of this thing. 738 00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:07,600 That's a, that could be your Single Payer sort of system but 739 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:10,700 they're not interested in that. I love the idea of taking care 740 00:46:10,700 --> 00:46:14,600 of people when they're older. My only beef is not letting 741 00:46:14,600 --> 00:46:18,100 people opt out and the state monopolizing the money supply 742 00:46:18,100 --> 00:46:20,400 but You get what I'm saying then? 743 00:46:20,900 --> 00:46:25,000 Why is this been such a hard sell considering it's not that 744 00:46:25,100 --> 00:46:30,000 we hate taking care of people. We hate this groups claim that 745 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:33,400 they have the right to forcibly, take care of people. 746 00:46:33,500 --> 00:46:35,000 Why is that been such a hard sell? 747 00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:40,500 Well it's in so much of Life. The near term Here and Now 748 00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:46,100 forget the future. Short-term focused stuff is an 749 00:46:46,100 --> 00:46:48,400 easier. Sell I wish it wasn't. 750 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:52,900 But it's just the way things are you but we are given braids 751 00:46:54,100 --> 00:46:57,000 human beings. Each of us has a braid and the 752 00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:01,300 capacity to think and we should be thinking about these things 753 00:47:01,300 --> 00:47:04,500 far more deeply than you, what you can put on a bumper sticker. 754 00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:09,000 But people like AOC, you know, they can barely understand it, 755 00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:12,800 if it'll fit on a bumper sticker, they just don't seem to 756 00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:17,000 care or even think through the long run consequences or the 757 00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:19,300 Alternatives that might be. Viable. 758 00:47:20,900 --> 00:47:24,700 I think that's the shame of it all but you just have to 759 00:47:24,700 --> 00:47:27,700 constantly ask people eighth step up to the plate. 760 00:47:27,700 --> 00:47:33,000 Be an adult, you know, as babies were all socialist. 761 00:47:33,500 --> 00:47:36,000 Think of it. When you were three years old, 762 00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:38,100 you're probably isn't you were socialists? 763 00:47:38,100 --> 00:47:39,900 Why? Because you didn't care what 764 00:47:39,900 --> 00:47:42,400 anything costs. You want it, you want it. 765 00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:44,800 Now, you don't care where it came from, or who paid for it 766 00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:47,200 and you scream bloody murder if you didn't get it. 767 00:47:47,500 --> 00:47:52,400 But part of the Says of growing up is realizing wow. 768 00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:55,300 There are other people on this planet besides me and they have 769 00:47:55,300 --> 00:47:59,900 rights just as I do and maybe I need to find another way to get 770 00:47:59,900 --> 00:48:02,900 what I want instead of just holding them up and see because 771 00:48:03,100 --> 00:48:06,400 if they get too, if I get to do that, what what are they claim? 772 00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:10,300 The right to do it to me? You know, those are things we 773 00:48:10,300 --> 00:48:14,200 have to ponder when we become adults but people like AOC 774 00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:17,900 remain babies. And when they get older, they 775 00:48:17,900 --> 00:48:21,200 simply And get into the political process, instantly 776 00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:26,200 become babies with guns. And you know what? 777 00:48:26,500 --> 00:48:30,300 I don't want to use, you know, the term like well they live in 778 00:48:30,300 --> 00:48:34,800 a fantasy land but if you say something like X should be free, 779 00:48:34,900 --> 00:48:37,900 whatever you think. X is it's literally like saying 780 00:48:37,900 --> 00:48:42,100 the military is free because the government pays for or it could 781 00:48:42,100 --> 00:48:46,400 make we could make houses free. We just give the Catholic Church 782 00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:50,300 a monopoly on Taxation and then the Catholic Church will buy 783 00:48:50,300 --> 00:48:52,600 everyone a house. This way it's free like you 784 00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:56,200 would clearly see through that. Immediately even if money is not 785 00:48:56,200 --> 00:49:00,400 involved every piece of concrete allocated toward this group is 786 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:04,400 not allocated toward other groups, so it's literally like 787 00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:07,900 they're lying. When they say something is free, 788 00:49:08,900 --> 00:49:13,400 do you have, you found any really good seeds to plant in 789 00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:16,600 people when they think that there's, there's two ways of 790 00:49:16,700 --> 00:49:20,000 there's the freeway and then there's the people like Lawrence 791 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:23,200 read who make me want to pay for things and that's why I hate 792 00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:26,600 him. Well maybe a number of things 793 00:49:26,600 --> 00:49:28,400 here. You could say that hopefully 794 00:49:28,700 --> 00:49:32,500 prod them to be more thoughtful, people, I would say, well, if 795 00:49:32,500 --> 00:49:35,800 all their stuff was free, how do we get a thirty? 796 00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:40,400 One trillion dollar national debt and what is it about 797 00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:43,800 laundering your money through the political process? 798 00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:47,400 That reduces the cost of something explain that to me, 799 00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:49,400 please. I'm not going to just assume 800 00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:51,200 that you're right about that. Please tell me. 801 00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:55,900 How does that work? I defy anybody to tell me how 802 00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:58,600 laundering your money through the political process makes 803 00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:03,000 things cheaper and you know, other things like, well in the 804 00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:06,700 long run is a, is it better for a person to be as independent as 805 00:50:06,700 --> 00:50:08,800 his abilities? Allow them to be? 806 00:50:09,100 --> 00:50:13,300 Or would it be better if he were dependent upon people in 807 00:50:13,900 --> 00:50:16,500 political power for his livelihood? 808 00:50:16,900 --> 00:50:19,300 I mean, that's a pretty big decision, isn't it? 809 00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:22,200 I mean, it has massive implications at the personal 810 00:50:22,200 --> 00:50:26,500 level, as well as for, Xiety at large and yet we sort of blindly 811 00:50:26,500 --> 00:50:28,000 assumed. Well, what's the difference? 812 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:30,400 And in fact if we get it quicker and easier for the political 813 00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:32,200 process, well, why not do it that way? 814 00:50:33,600 --> 00:50:36,100 Short again, in short-term thinkers are don't look at all 815 00:50:36,100 --> 00:50:41,700 consequences or the long run. End up likes a snake, oil 816 00:50:41,700 --> 00:50:44,100 salesman, they're pushing all this stuff. 817 00:50:44,100 --> 00:50:45,900 Say look what, look what I'm going to get for you. 818 00:50:45,900 --> 00:50:48,500 It's free. It's just repeating. 819 00:50:48,500 --> 00:50:51,500 Age-old fallacies, that have never ended well. 820 00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:57,000 And again, just Like the earlier example with not looking at the 821 00:50:57,000 --> 00:50:59,600 cost of things, they also don't do it when it comes to 822 00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:01,700 subsidies. So the biggest things that are 823 00:51:01,700 --> 00:51:05,800 subsidized, Health Care, housing and higher education have all 824 00:51:05,800 --> 00:51:09,200 constantly gone up in price to forget college textbooks. 825 00:51:09,800 --> 00:51:14,600 Just something for dick ulis. They doesn't seem to care, but 826 00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:16,400 we can leave it here because we've gone over. 827 00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:18,300 I'm so appreciative of your time. 828 00:51:18,900 --> 00:51:23,200 How does subsidizing something make it more expensive? 829 00:51:24,300 --> 00:51:27,000 Well, first of all, you got the cost of the subsidy and 830 00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:32,300 secondly, the subsidy tends to have an effect on the providers 831 00:51:32,300 --> 00:51:37,200 of that service, which is there less conscious of their costs 832 00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:39,800 after all, they're being under written or their customers are 833 00:51:39,800 --> 00:51:44,000 being guaranteed in some way, their mistakes are being papered 834 00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:46,400 over. So why be careful about such 835 00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:48,400 things. It makes things naturally 836 00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:52,200 inefficient, when you're not having to focus on that bottom 837 00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:56,600 line, because you're not Up to you, not in danger of going 838 00:51:56,600 --> 00:52:00,900 broke if you don't. So, just thinking your personal 839 00:52:00,900 --> 00:52:08,600 life, what when does it proper for an adult to say to their 840 00:52:08,600 --> 00:52:10,300 children? That's enough. 841 00:52:11,100 --> 00:52:13,500 No, I'm not going to continually give you this, let me don't. 842 00:52:13,500 --> 00:52:17,300 We do that all the time. Often parents give in, and they, 843 00:52:17,500 --> 00:52:20,100 you know, do things that you could say, is a kind of subsidy 844 00:52:20,100 --> 00:52:22,900 for their children, but I think most of us understand that. 845 00:52:22,900 --> 00:52:25,100 There comes a point where That's not healthy. 846 00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:28,600 It comes a point where you're going to set that child back if 847 00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:32,300 you continue to do that, that the best thing for that child is 848 00:52:32,300 --> 00:52:37,400 to say, stand on your own, don't expect forever handouts. 849 00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:41,000 So we sort of know that when it comes to our personal lives or 850 00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:44,600 at least most of us do why we think it should be any different 851 00:52:44,600 --> 00:52:49,000 when the government plays the role of national nanny is beyond 852 00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:51,800 me, do you have time for one more question? 853 00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:53,900 Oh yeah. Thank you. 854 00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:57,100 This is one of the big ones that we get that. 855 00:52:57,100 --> 00:53:00,600 When you have this free market, you are free to do bad things 856 00:53:00,600 --> 00:53:04,900 such as discriminate and therefore we didn't see real 857 00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:09,300 achievements from Black Americans until the Civil Rights 858 00:53:09,300 --> 00:53:11,500 Act. What if anything is wrong about 859 00:53:11,500 --> 00:53:13,600 that? That narrative? 860 00:53:15,300 --> 00:53:18,500 A number of things. One is we did see Improvement, 861 00:53:18,500 --> 00:53:21,800 especially after Jim Crow laws which are again laws of 862 00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:25,600 government state and local but still laws of government not 863 00:53:26,500 --> 00:53:29,500 private actors. In a competitive and free 864 00:53:29,500 --> 00:53:33,200 Marketplace. We did see Improvement for 865 00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:38,900 decades in the loss of previously oppressed peoples as 866 00:53:38,900 --> 00:53:42,800 we freed the market freed people, they improve their 867 00:53:42,800 --> 00:53:46,300 standards of living in Time and again, no matter what you're 868 00:53:46,300 --> 00:53:52,300 measuring, whether it be, you know, the rate of intact 869 00:53:52,300 --> 00:53:57,700 Families versus broken families or of economic income, you'll 870 00:53:57,700 --> 00:54:03,200 find those numbers steadily fell until about. 1965 when we 871 00:54:03,200 --> 00:54:06,900 started the Great Society with massive subsidies and then 872 00:54:06,900 --> 00:54:12,500 progress stopped when we started subsidizing both good and bad 873 00:54:12,500 --> 00:54:16,400 behavior. Suddenly the The one measurement 874 00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:20,700 of improvement in standards of living of various groups 875 00:54:20,900 --> 00:54:24,800 stagnated. And that's what things like 876 00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:26,900 subsidies and political intervention do. 877 00:54:27,700 --> 00:54:29,500 There's nothing about being in politics. 878 00:54:29,500 --> 00:54:33,100 It suddenly makes you wiser than when you were in the private 879 00:54:33,100 --> 00:54:35,000 sector. There's nothing about politics. 880 00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:38,300 It says, you're going to be more compassionate than people in the 881 00:54:38,308 --> 00:54:40,900 private sector. But there is a lot about 882 00:54:40,900 --> 00:54:46,500 politics that says your You will do the things that tend to 883 00:54:46,500 --> 00:54:50,400 satisfy your self-interest and your accountability is quite 884 00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:53,200 limited as a politician is long. As you can. 885 00:54:53,500 --> 00:54:57,000 Sell people the snake oil, they'll keep drinking it. 886 00:54:57,900 --> 00:55:02,700 Unless there's a huge Awakening in a free market. 887 00:55:02,700 --> 00:55:06,100 You can you produce bad products that you're going to be out of 888 00:55:06,100 --> 00:55:08,000 business? A lot quicker than politicians 889 00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:10,800 go out of business even when they produce disaster time and 890 00:55:10,800 --> 00:55:14,400 time again. Thank you so much mr. 891 00:55:14,500 --> 00:55:17,000 Read for your time, thanks to everyone for watching the 892 00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:20,700 libertarian Institute and Keith Knight don't tread on anyone. 893 00:55:20,700 --> 00:55:23,800 I want to end with one of my favorite quotes from Thomas, 894 00:55:23,800 --> 00:55:27,400 sole author of civil rights rhetoric or reality. 895 00:55:27,900 --> 00:55:31,100 But the number of blacks in professional Technical and other 896 00:55:31,100 --> 00:55:34,200 high-level occupations more than doubled in the decade. 897 00:55:34,200 --> 00:55:38,900 Preceding, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in other occupations. 898 00:55:39,100 --> 00:55:43,200 Gains by blacks, work writer, during the 1940s where there was 899 00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:45,300 practically no civil. Legislation. 900 00:55:45,600 --> 00:55:49,700 Then during the 1950s, in various skilled trades that 901 00:55:49,700 --> 00:55:54,800 income of blacks, relative to whites more than doubled, more 902 00:55:54,800 --> 00:55:58,900 evidence that the free market gives us what we need. 903 00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:02,200 And the state is constantly, the parasite on society, mr. 904 00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:04,600 Reed, thank you so much for your time sir or pleasure, once 905 00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:05,300 again. Thank you again.