PK Post

I honestly don't know what to say to someone who believes that free market economics (millions, billions of people trading individually and voluntarily, which is the only type of economy that is consistent with individual liberty or the constitution) "doesn't work" when it is what made this the richest nation on the face of the earth. I really don't.

And the assertion that those who promote a free market want to install a wealthy ruling class is so wrong, that the angle 180 degrees doesn't even cover how wrong it is. I wouldn't know where to begin; it requires a reading of the constitution and a study of the basics of economic law from square one. I could only recommend a reading list - there are two books that can be read in the course of an afternoon that lay out enough basics to get one's feet wet, and they are put out by Bluestocking Press, written by Richard Maybury called "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy" and "Whatever Happened to Justice" respectively. They lay out the basics of liberty, economics and law. I've used them with ages from 12 and up; very reader-friendly. The wonderful thing about studying economics (tempered with common law of course - do all you have agreed to do and do not encroach upon others or their property) is that #1 it is not difficult like most people think - the fundamentals do not change #2 it is endlessly fascinating and #3 it *explains so much more than you would have ever believed possible.*

Now if you can point me to a school of economics that is fully consistent with individual liberty and the constitution, that does not direct men in which manner they must dispose of their capitol and the fruits of their labor, then please do so. Actually that's rhetorical; by definition anything but a free market in which people trade freely with one another under no compulsion except having to keep their contracts/warranties and not being permitted to encroach upon other persons and their property (i.e. protecting people by law from fraud and theft) can not be consistent with full individual liberty. If liberty is meaningless to you, well it sure as hell isn't to me. It means more than wealth, than government goodies, than my life.

In the meantime I'm linking you to an essay demonstrating exactly HOW and WHY free market economics "works" and is the only feasible option. Don't worry, it's a whimsical and entertaining little read. After that you can dig into some meat with the books I recommend or at the Foundation for Economic Education, or at the von Mises Institute. There is plenty there, including the entire text of Mises' seminal work, "Liberalism." (He defined liberal - though it's not what most people think of today. Had his work been translated sooner, we might have staved off the great depression - if we'd return to a free market now we can stop the depression that we are heading into as we speak...as it stands, that's not going to happen and we are going to be in a for-real depression; you all ain't seen nothin' yet. The Carter depression is gonna look like a picnic, even the gas lines.)

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship." Alexander Tytler, 18th century.

I, Pencil Link http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html