Evan's Easy Economics: #28 The Afterthought

Afterthought

Now that we have a better view of how the world works, and why things are the way they are, I would invite you to start reading economic literature or watching economic videos. A fantastic place to start would be with mises.org, or www.lewrockwell.com. These websites provide fantastically thought out arguments, videos, and literature for free that have at the very least expanded my mind when it comes to economics and government.

But don't just look at the good stuff that makes sense, look through the news and media, and do your best to recognize economic idiocy when you see it. Next time that the news reports that “the recent government bailouts have generated 650,000 jobs”, ask the very important questions that need to be asked: Where'd the money come from? Are the jobs beneficial to society? Why didn't the marketplace generate these 'important' and 'necessary' jobs to begin with? Are the jobs producing what is valued by society? How much did it cost you personally to generate the job?

The next time you go to see a movie that happens to casually mention the pitfalls of Capitalism and the disgusting actions of evil, profit-seeking, filthy, vulture, zombie-esque, capitalist pigs (for example, I don't know, Michael Moore's new movie “Capitalism: A Love Story”), stop and ask questions that the movie maker didn't bother to ask: Is he confusing capitalism with socialism, mercantilism, or maybe even fascism? In what ways is he confusing them? Do the industries he talks about negatively in some way have a connection with the government? Is that connection constitutional? If these evil capitalists are making money performing such despicable tasks, are they really evil? Why do their jobs exist (for a fantastic book on this subject, please read Walter Block's “Defending the Undefendable”)? What part of the story are they not showing us? If a poor 'innocent' person's house is being boarded up and he's being evicted, why is he being evicted? Did he make a foolish decision? Was his foolish decision based off of incorrect information provided by faulty interest rates?

Remember – it ain't capitalism if the government is involved!