Learn LibertyWhat if there were no prices? How would you use available resources?
To appreciate why market prices are essential to human well-being, consider what a fix we would be in without them. Suppose you were the commissar of railroads in the old Soviet Union. Markets and prices have been banished. You and your comrades. Passionate communists all. Now, directly plan how to use available resources.
You want a railroad from city A to city B, but between the cities is a mountain range. Suppose somehow you know that the railroad once built. Will serve the nation equally well. Whether it goes through the mountains or around. If you build through the mountains, you'll use much less steel for the tracks.
Because that route is shorter. But you'll use a great deal of engineering to design the trestles and tunnels needed to cross the rough terrain. That matters because engineering is also needed to design irrigation systems, mines, harbor installations and other structures. And you don't want to tie up engineering on your railroad if it would be more valuable designing those other structures instead.
You can save engineering for other projects. If you build around the mountains on level ground. But that way you'll use much more steel rail to go the longer distance and steel is also needed for other purposes. For vehicles, girders, ships, pots and pans and thousands of other things.
Which route should you choose for the good of the nation? To answer, you would need to determine which bundle of resources is less urgently needed for other purposes. The large amount of engineering and small amount of steel for the route through the mountains, where the small amount of engineering and large amount of steel for the roundabout route.
But how could you find out the urgency of need for engineering and steel in other uses? Find out more as Professor Howard Baetjer Jr. from Towson University explains market prices through the railroad thought experiment.
LEARN MORE: -The Essential Hayek (website): A project of The Fraser Institute, serving as a resource for the life and works of Freidrich Hayek. http://www.essentialhayek.org -"What Do Prices 'Know' That You Don't?" (video): Professor Mike Munger explains how prices convey knowledge about scarcity and need. youtube.com/watch?v=WPy-QKXofQs
LEARN LIBERTY Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://bit.ly/1UleLbP
What If There Were No Prices?Learn Liberty2015-11-05 | What if there were no prices? How would you use available resources?
To appreciate why market prices are essential to human well-being, consider what a fix we would be in without them. Suppose you were the commissar of railroads in the old Soviet Union. Markets and prices have been banished. You and your comrades. Passionate communists all. Now, directly plan how to use available resources.
You want a railroad from city A to city B, but between the cities is a mountain range. Suppose somehow you know that the railroad once built. Will serve the nation equally well. Whether it goes through the mountains or around. If you build through the mountains, you'll use much less steel for the tracks.
Because that route is shorter. But you'll use a great deal of engineering to design the trestles and tunnels needed to cross the rough terrain. That matters because engineering is also needed to design irrigation systems, mines, harbor installations and other structures. And you don't want to tie up engineering on your railroad if it would be more valuable designing those other structures instead.
You can save engineering for other projects. If you build around the mountains on level ground. But that way you'll use much more steel rail to go the longer distance and steel is also needed for other purposes. For vehicles, girders, ships, pots and pans and thousands of other things.
Which route should you choose for the good of the nation? To answer, you would need to determine which bundle of resources is less urgently needed for other purposes. The large amount of engineering and small amount of steel for the route through the mountains, where the small amount of engineering and large amount of steel for the roundabout route.
But how could you find out the urgency of need for engineering and steel in other uses? Find out more as Professor Howard Baetjer Jr. from Towson University explains market prices through the railroad thought experiment.
LEARN MORE: -The Essential Hayek (website): A project of The Fraser Institute, serving as a resource for the life and works of Freidrich Hayek. http://www.essentialhayek.org -"What Do Prices 'Know' That You Don't?" (video): Professor Mike Munger explains how prices convey knowledge about scarcity and need. youtube.com/watch?v=WPy-QKXofQs
LEARN LIBERTY Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://bit.ly/1UleLbPImmigration Panel: Trevor Kraus of Students For Liberty and Dr. Alex Tokarev of Northwood UniversityLearn Liberty2024-10-08 | Why do some libertarians support government restrictions on immigration? Are their arguments consistent with classical liberal ideals, and are they compelling?
These are important questions — not just for the 2024 Presidential Election, but for the future of the United States in an ever-globalizing world.
Learn Liberty's Story Editor, Trevor Kraus, was challenged to assess Hans-Hermann Hoppe's (among others') takes on immigration. In the McNair Center for Free Enterprise at Northwood University, he'll present what he found. Then, Dr. Alex Tokarev, professor at Northwood University and an immigrant himself, will respond. Followed by a discussion and Q&A.
Dive into an issue at the heart of the 2024 political season ... and, ultimately, to learn.
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.Censorship Empowers the People it CensorsLearn Liberty2024-10-07 | ...Can Politicians be Pro Business?Learn Liberty2024-10-07 | ...Censorship encourages stupidityLearn Liberty2024-10-07 | ...Migration is EffectiveLearn Liberty2024-10-07 | ...The Big Government CrisisLearn Liberty2024-10-07 | ...Inflation is a tax on savingsLearn Liberty2024-10-07 | Professor Antony Davies explains the many miss-understandings about Government Debt. Myth 1 is that the government owes “only” $20 trillion. (In reality, it’s much more.) But luckily, Myth 10 is that there’s no way to fix this problem…
️🔥 For more content like this watch Prof. Antony Davies' Answers to the Most Googled Economics Questions: youtu.be/NVv_StQXHSI ️🔥
🎙️ Professor Davies also co-hosts a PODCAST! Find him and James R. Harrigan in the Words & Numbers podcast: wordsandnumbers.libsyn.com 🎙️
Myth number one, the government owes $20 trillion. How much is $20 trillion? Suppose you go to Germany, and in Germany, you go to every town. In every town, you visit every store. In every store, you look at every shelf and grab everything that is for sale. The amount of money you spend will not be $20 trillion. If you go to Germany and then to France and you go to every town, and within every town, you go to every store. In every store, you look on every shelf and you buy everything. You still will not have spent $20 trillion. You can go to England and while you’re there, you can go to the North Countries and buy everything that’s for sale, and you still will not have spent $20 trillion. In fact, to spend $20 trillion, you have to go to every country in Europe, visit every town, in every town, go to every store. In every store, look on every shelf and buy everything. And then you will have spent about $20 trillion.
But the myth is that this is how much money the government owes. It turns out that there’s more, called unfunded obligations. Unfunded obligations is money the Federal Government has promised but which it does not and will not have the money to pay. Largely, this consists of promises of retirement and medical benefits. If you would take the present value of all the future promises of retirement and medical benefits the government has made and subtract from that the amount of money that’s in the government’s Social Security and Medicare trust funds, and then subtract from that the amount of money the Federal Government anticipates collecting under the current law from future Social Security and Medicare taxes, you will still have an amount of money left over that the government does not have.
LEARN MORE: How Big is the U.S. Debt? (video): A stunning visual representation of the ever-growing amount of debt and unfunded liabilities being accumulated by the federal government, narrated by Prof. Antony Davies. youtube.com/watch?v=kc_5D3W3hTo How Should Governments Deal With Debt? (video): Nations that spend themselves into debt face very difficult choices. Prof. Steve Davies describes the three main choices that governments have to fix their debt problems. youtube.com/watch?v=qLHsV2XsyLU Debts, Deficits, and Spending Cuts (video): Prof. Jeff Miron of Harvard University explains we should focus on reducing spending, rather than managing the deficit, if we want to reign-in the runaway national debt. youtube.com/watch?v=jAbLvGAFH2w
Students For Liberty has acquired Learn Liberty from the Institute for Humane Studies. Now your two favorite educational and skills development channels are integrated into one simple platform - bringing you the very best of the pro-liberty movement. Read More about this news: http://bit.ly/2Eyr9EA
Learn Liberty is the place to discover the ideas of a free society. We answer the big questions about what makes a society free and how we can improve the world we live in. Have we got all the answers? No - but we’ve got a lot of ideas.
What makes us different is that we collaborate with esteemed professors from a variety of academic disciplines to provide you with in-depth content and exploration through today’s most pressing problems.
STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY: Students For Liberty is a rapidly growing network of pro-liberty students from all over the world. Our mission is to educate, develop, and empower the next generation of leaders of liberty. Learn more at studentsforliberty.orgPoliticians don’t seek the common goodLearn Liberty2024-10-07 | ...Capitalism is betterLearn Liberty2024-10-07 | ...The Rise of Big Government: A Cross Partisan CrisisLearn Liberty2024-10-04 | The right and the left now in America are unabashedly publicly pro big government I mean at least back in the day the right kind of was quiet about it Now they're both out there saying damn it we're going to use government to do this It's a scary place
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.The Realities of Haitian Migration: A Struggle for FreedomLearn Liberty2024-10-04 | Bryan Caplan and Christopher Wellman debate immigration. Is there a human right to immigrate to any country in the world?
Debate sponsored by IHS, the John Templeton Foundation, and University of San Diego’s Center for Ethics, Economics, and Public Policy.
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.Migration: The Best Tool Against PovertyLearn Liberty2024-10-04 | Migration is actually the most effective anti-poverty program currently operating on Earth So I don't see why you would think that it's unrealistic to expand that rather than push harder on something that has very little very little support and has done very littleAre Politicians Truly Pro BusinessLearn Liberty2024-10-04 | “Pro-Business” can mean a few different things when it comes out of politicians’ mouths. It could mean they want to let free markets create as many jobs and opportunities as possible, or it could mean they want to treat the economy like a machine, pulling levers and pushing buttons to pick winners and losers. Mercatus Senior Research Fellow Matthew D. Mitchell explains. SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/2dUx6wg
LEARN MORE: How Cronyism is Hurting the Economy (video): Jason Brennan explains the problems caused by cronyism and how to prevent cronyism. youtube.com/watch?v=gSgUENZ9O94
Should the Government Subsidize... Silly Walks? - Learn Liberty (video): Art Carden explains why government subsidies are problematic for the economy. youtube.com/watch?v=WzemQqkyoiI
"Is Capitalism "Pro-Business?" (video): Steve Horwitz explains why capitalism is good for everyone, not just big business. youtube.com/watch?v=hjh7mXPfMKs
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.🔥 The TRUTH about Second Amendment: Its A Grammar DisasterLearn Liberty2024-10-04 | The 2nd Amendment is so hotly debated in part because of the order of its two clauses: The prefatory clause: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State” and the operative clause: “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
In this video, Learn Liberty aruges that its wording should have been reversed — and elucidates 8 facts about the 2nd Amendment that you might not have realized.
CHAPTERS: 0:00 A Poorly Worded Amendment? 1:32 Fact #1: The roots of the 2nd Amendment can be traced to the English Bill of Rights of 1689. 3:37 Fact #2: The 2nd Amendment ALSO has roots in STATE constitutions. 5:59 Fact #3: The 2nd Amendment went through several drafts. 8:06 Fact #4: The 2nd Amendment has a “prefatory,” or “preface” clause, and an “operative” clause. 10:46 Fact #5: History has not looked kindly upon previous attempts to regulate guns. 12:33 Fact #6: The two major political parties used to be flipped on the interpretation and implementation of the 2nd Amendment. 14:40 Fact #7: There was another attack on the 2nd Amendment in 1994. 16:28 Fact #8: American police are increasingly militarized. 17:46 Last Thoughts
#2ndAmendment #FoundingFathers #gunrights
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.orgDo Video Games Cause More Violence?Learn Liberty2024-10-03 | While there’s a great deal of controversy around video games and their potential link to violence behavior in youth, statistics show something a little bit different. Learn More: http://bit.ly/1HVAtKP.The studies done by Professor Michael Ward and other researchers argue that video games don’t make today’s youth violent. Still, lawmakers and congressmen are making decisions that could curb the creative liberty of video game designers.
LEARN LIBERTY Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://bit.ly/1UleLbP
Scott Cunningham, Benjamin Engelstätter, and Michael R. Ward, “Understanding the Effects of Violent Video Games on Violent Crime,” Working Paper, April, 2011. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1804959The Case for Private Property on Mars: A Productive FutureLearn Liberty2024-10-03 | Once we get to Mars, have you thought about how to create property on the planet? We talked to a Jim Cavera, a Blue Origin engineer, and applied the thinkings of John Locke and Robert Nozick to Mars Colonization to find out how!Does the Turkish Army Have the World’s Largest Gay 🌽 Archive?Learn Liberty2024-10-03 | Does the Turkish army have the largest gay 🌽 archive Let me explain In Turkey military service is mandatory for all men Also refusing military service due to conscientious objection is illegal Also speaking publicly against the army is punishable in Turkey so I'm sticking my neck out here There are ways of avoiding military service but Turkey is very strict on giving men free passes Still being homosexual is a psychosexual disorder so gay men cannot serve in the army You think it's an easy way out No Army thinks that saying that you're gay in Turkey is very easy so you have to prove it Up until a couple of years ago the army required you to provide a clear photo or video of you having gay sex to prove that you're actually bisexual or gay Yes you heard it right I would like to remind you that there is no expiry date on these files and this has been going on for decades So Turkish Army has the largest military gay 🌽 archive in the
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.Understanding Gender DifferencesLearn Liberty2024-10-01 | Men and women are not identical in their life priorities in their sexuality in their tastes and interests Again this is not controversial to anyone who is even glanced at the data The kind of vocational interest tests of the kind that your high school guidance counselor gave you have been given to millions of people And men and women give different answers as to what they want to do for a living and how much time they want to allocate to family versus career and so on But you kind of can't say it
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.What Happens to Dictators After Death?Learn Liberty2024-09-18 | Ever wonder what happens to dictators after they die? Some authoritarian regimes just can’t let go—even after death. In places like Russia, China, and Vietnam, the bodies of former leaders are embalmed and put on display for the public.
But Argentina takes it to another level. While Evita Perón wasn’t officially a leader, her husband Juan Perón created a cult-like following around her. After her death, her body was embalmed, hidden in Italy, relocated to Spain, and finally brought back to Argentina. Now, she rests in Buenos Aires, far from public view.
Dive into the bizarre politics of authoritarian afterlives. 💀Debunking the TAX THE RICH lieLearn Liberty2024-09-10 | When politicians raise taxes on the rich, what do the rich do to protect their $$$? This Prof. shows how high taxes actually made America less equal.
We always hear that the rich should pay taxes more, that our tax rates aren’t high enough. If only we raise taxes we can solve a lot of our problems — inequality would go down and maybe we’d even have more economic growth. Now the funny thing about this view is it really doesn’t comport with our historical experience at all.
LEARN MORE: The Myth of Equality in the 1950s (video): Another myth of the 1950s is that there was economic equality. Prof. Brian Domitrovic explains why this is a myth. youtube.com/watch?v=wLl9wOivHdc How Cronyism is Hurting the Economy (video): Prof. Jason Brennan explains why cronyism, like the tax cuts for certain businesses in the 1950s, is bad for the economy and argues why limiting the government’s power would help solve the problem. youtube.com/watch?v=gSgUENZ9O94 The Good Ol' Days: When Tax Rates Were 90 Percent (article): Andrew Syrios compares the tax rates in the 1950s to those of the 1980s and today mises.org/library/good-ol-days-when-tax-rates-were-90-percent
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.Debunking the Price Gouging MYTHLearn Liberty2024-08-16 | Price gouging encourages competition by pressuring manufacturers and distributors to increase production, which over time, would actually drive down costs. Price controls during a time of crisis, however, do nothing to address the shortage problem.
TRANSCRIPT:
Is asking $1300 for the generator morally wrong? Of course, you’d rather buy it from me for $800, but there are three reasons why my charging a higher price isn’t obviously wrong.
First, remember, you don’t have to buy it from me for $1300. If that’s more than you think the generator is worth, you’re free to walk on by. If you do decide to pay, it’s because you believe you’re getting more value out of the generator than you do for the $1300 you gave up for it.
Scond, ask yourself what would happen if I did charge only $800 for the generator. Remember you aren’t the only person who needs electric power in this situation. If the price was lower, would the generator still have been there when you tried to buy it? Or would someone else have snatched it up before you ever had a chance?
This leads directly to the third point, which is that high prices do more than just line sellers’ pockets. They also affect how buyers and sellers behave. For buyers, high prices reduce demand and encourage conservation. They lead buyers to ask themselves whether they really need that generator, or whether they can do without.
And by doing so, they allow at least some of those resources to be conserved for other people who might need them more, and therefore are willing to pay more. And for sellers, high prices encourage people to bring more goods to where they’re needed.
If generators can be bought in an area not affected by a hurricane for $800, and resold later for $1300, that creates a profit incentive for people to bring generators from where they’re less needed to where they’re more needed to get them to where they’ll do more good for people who need them most.
All of this leads to a surprising conclusion. Even someone who can’t afford to pay $1300 for a generator benefits from a system in which sellers are allowed to charge that price.
That’s because the profit motive that that system creates encourages competition, which increases supply, and ultimately, drives down prices to a more affordable level for everyone.
Now it’s true that when price gouging is legal, some people won’t be able to afford the higher prices that result. But ask yourself, what alternative institutions would do better?
When price gouging is prohibited, goods usually go to whoever shows up first. If you care about distributed justice, is that really a better system? I think there are good reasons to doubt that price gouging is immoral.
But suppose you’re not convinced. Suppose you think price gouging is exploitative and wrong. Should it be illegal? The answer, even if we assume price gouging is immoral, is almost certainly that it should not be illegal. If price gouging is wrong, it’s because it hurts people in vulnerable situations. But then, the last thing you want to do is hurt those vulnerable people even more.
Remember, the only reason price gouging occurs is because a disaster causes demand for certain goods to go up and supply to go down, with the result that there isn’t enough stuff to go around. Anti-gouging laws don’t do anything to address this underlying shortage.
In fact, they make it worse by destroying incentives for conservation and increasing supply. So even if you think that price gouging is morally wrong, and that merchants should refuse to engage in it, making it illegal doesn’t make sense. It hurts the very people who need our help most.
LEARN LIBERTY: Learn Liberty is an educational hub where you can explore the ideas of a free society. We look at the big questions about what makes a society prosper and how we can make the world a freer place for all. We don’t have all the answers - but we’ve got a lot of ideas. We work with professors from a range of backgrounds while giving them a platform to share their own opinions. In 2019, Learn Liberty was acquired by Students For Liberty from the Institute for Humane Studies. Learn more at learnliberty.orgThe Cantillon Effect, ExplainedLearn Liberty2024-08-15 | The Cantillon effect says that when new money is printed it goes first to the people and industries closest to the money supply Richard Cantillon watched these dynamics play out in the 18th century in the South Sea Bubble the world's first financial crash and the Mississippi bubble a scheme in France that started a frenzy and ultimately a financial collapse More recently consider what happened during COVID with those twelve hundred dollar stimulus deposits By the time normal folks got that money according to the Cantillon effect inflation was already taking effect Gas prices for example had risen But if you were a big business in the financial sector you might have gotten to fill up your executives' limos and private jets before gas prices went up
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.Everything WRONG with the FedLearn Liberty2024-08-13 | The Fed was created by the world's richest people to increase their power. Here are 6 things that have gone horribly wrong since the Fed came into existence — according to Austrian economics.
CHAPTERS 0:00 What happened on Jekyll Island? 1:35 #6 The Fed’s Creation 3:01 #5 Money = Government Monopoly 4:05 Did Hayek Predict Bitcoin? Watch more here: youtube.com/watch?v=COCuhEi8L3w 5:23 #4 Capture Theory 6:46 #3 Income Inequality 9:16 #2 Everything the Fed Distorts 10:46 #1 Government Debt (Watch more here: youtube.com/watch?v=EPjrFjAxwlw)
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.6 FREE MARKET Climate SolutionsLearn Liberty2024-07-22 | Free markets have produced unintended benefits in the past; we saw that in Part 1 of this series. Part 1 is called 5 FREE MARKET Policies with Unintended Climate Benefits. WATCH: youtube.com/watch?v=MEuTsmcDDM4
Here in Part 2, Reem Ibrahim builds on what happened in the past. She walks us through 6 free-market principles that will maximize the likelihood of climate benefits in the future.
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.5 FREE MARKET Policies with Unintended Climate BenefitsLearn Liberty2024-07-10 | These free-market policies came about before most people had ever heard the term “climate change.”
Yet, because of their foundation in free trade, inclusive competition, low taxes, and private economic rights, they benefited the climate — and humanity. Watch to learn how.
This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Part 2 discusses which free-market policies of the future are likely to have climate benefits. It's called 6 FREE MARKET Climate Solutions. Watch it here: youtube.com/watch?v=-3Iqxn06Z2E
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.8 Costs of War You Don’t KnowLearn Liberty2024-06-29 | We often hear about the death tolls of troops, but war has tragic costs we don’t often see. This video dives into 8 of those hidden costs of war.
They include shocking governmental infringements on civil liberties, disastrous economic and environmental impacts, and long-term emotional and psychological damage.
CHAPTERS: 0:00 Hidden Costs of War 0:19 Infrastructure 2:32 “Creative Budgets” 4:13 Civil Liberties 6:07 Psychological and Cultural 8:10 Long-term Economic Consequences 9:48 Bigger Government 11:28 The Earth and Sea 12:24 The Air
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.The Rise of House VelaryonLearn Liberty2024-06-28 | LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.The Myth of Tax RaisesLearn Liberty2024-06-26 | Professor Antony Davies explains the many miss-understandings about Government Debt.
️🔥 For more content like this watch Prof. Antony Davies' Answers to the Most Googled Economics Questions: youtu.be/NVv_StQXHSI ️🔥
🎙️ Professor Davies also co-hosts a PODCAST! Find him and James R. Harrigan in the Words & Numbers podcast: wordsandnumbers.libsyn.com 🎙️
Myth number one, the government owes $20 trillion. How much is $20 trillion? Suppose you go to Germany, and in Germany, you go to every town. In every town, you visit every store. In every store, you look at every shelf and grab everything that is for sale. The amount of money you spend will not be $20 trillion. If you go to Germany and then to France and you go to every town, and within every town, you go to every store. In every store, you look on every shelf and you buy everything. You still will not have spent $20 trillion. You can go to England and while you’re there, you can go to the North Countries and buy everything that’s for sale, and you still will not have spent $20 trillion. In fact, to spend $20 trillion, you have to go to every country in Europe, visit every town, in every town, go to every store. In every store, look on every shelf and buy everything. And then you will have spent about $20 trillion.
But the myth is that this is how much money the government owes. It turns out that there’s more, called unfunded obligations. Unfunded obligations is money the Federal Government has promised but which it does not and will not have the money to pay. Largely, this consists of promises of retirement and medical benefits. If you would take the present value of all the future promises of retirement and medical benefits the government has made and subtract from that the amount of money that’s in the government’s Social Security and Medicare trust funds, and then subtract from that the amount of money the Federal Government anticipates collecting under the current law from future Social Security and Medicare taxes, you will still have an amount of money left over that the government does not have.
LEARN MORE: How Big is the U.S. Debt? (video): A stunning visual representation of the ever-growing amount of debt and unfunded liabilities being accumulated by the federal government, narrated by Prof. Antony Davies. youtube.com/watch?v=kc_5D3W3hTo How Should Governments Deal With Debt? (video): Nations that spend themselves into debt face very difficult choices. Prof. Steve Davies describes the three main choices that governments have to fix their debt problems. youtube.com/watch?v=qLHsV2XsyLU Debts, Deficits, and Spending Cuts (video): Prof. Jeff Miron of Harvard University explains we should focus on reducing spending, rather than managing the deficit, if we want to reign-in the runaway national debt. youtube.com/watch?v=jAbLvGAFH2w
Students For Liberty has acquired Learn Liberty from the Institute for Humane Studies. Now your two favorite educational and skills development channels are integrated into one simple platform - bringing you the very best of the pro-liberty movement. Read More about this news: http://bit.ly/2Eyr9EA
Learn Liberty is the place to discover the ideas of a free society. We answer the big questions about what makes a society free and how we can improve the world we live in. Have we got all the answers? No - but we’ve got a lot of ideas.
What makes us different is that we collaborate with esteemed professors from a variety of academic disciplines to provide you with in-depth content and exploration through today’s most pressing problems.
STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY: Students For Liberty is a rapidly growing network of pro-liberty students from all over the world. Our mission is to educate, develop, and empower the next generation of leaders of liberty. Learn more at studentsforliberty.orgHow Printing Money Leads to InflationLearn Liberty2024-06-25 | Professor Antony Davies explains the many miss-understandings about Government Debt.
️🔥 For more content like this watch Prof. Antony Davies' Answers to the Most Googled Economics Questions: youtu.be/NVv_StQXHSI ️🔥
🎙️ Professor Davies also co-hosts a PODCAST! Find him and James R. Harrigan in the Words & Numbers podcast: wordsandnumbers.libsyn.com 🎙️
Myth number one, the government owes $20 trillion. How much is $20 trillion? Suppose you go to Germany, and in Germany, you go to every town. In every town, you visit every store. In every store, you look at every shelf and grab everything that is for sale. The amount of money you spend will not be $20 trillion. If you go to Germany and then to France and you go to every town, and within every town, you go to every store. In every store, you look on every shelf and you buy everything. You still will not have spent $20 trillion. You can go to England and while you’re there, you can go to the North Countries and buy everything that’s for sale, and you still will not have spent $20 trillion. In fact, to spend $20 trillion, you have to go to every country in Europe, visit every town, in every town, go to every store. In every store, look on every shelf and buy everything. And then you will have spent about $20 trillion.
But the myth is that this is how much money the government owes. It turns out that there’s more, called unfunded obligations. Unfunded obligations is money the Federal Government has promised but which it does not and will not have the money to pay. Largely, this consists of promises of retirement and medical benefits. If you would take the present value of all the future promises of retirement and medical benefits the government has made and subtract from that the amount of money that’s in the government’s Social Security and Medicare trust funds, and then subtract from that the amount of money the Federal Government anticipates collecting under the current law from future Social Security and Medicare taxes, you will still have an amount of money left over that the government does not have.
LEARN MORE: How Big is the U.S. Debt? (video): A stunning visual representation of the ever-growing amount of debt and unfunded liabilities being accumulated by the federal government, narrated by Prof. Antony Davies. youtube.com/watch?v=kc_5D3W3hTo How Should Governments Deal With Debt? (video): Nations that spend themselves into debt face very difficult choices. Prof. Steve Davies describes the three main choices that governments have to fix their debt problems. youtube.com/watch?v=qLHsV2XsyLU Debts, Deficits, and Spending Cuts (video): Prof. Jeff Miron of Harvard University explains we should focus on reducing spending, rather than managing the deficit, if we want to reign-in the runaway national debt. youtube.com/watch?v=jAbLvGAFH2w
Students For Liberty has acquired Learn Liberty from the Institute for Humane Studies. Now your two favorite educational and skills development channels are integrated into one simple platform - bringing you the very best of the pro-liberty movement. Read More about this news: http://bit.ly/2Eyr9EA
Learn Liberty is the place to discover the ideas of a free society. We answer the big questions about what makes a society free and how we can improve the world we live in. Have we got all the answers? No - but we’ve got a lot of ideas.
What makes us different is that we collaborate with esteemed professors from a variety of academic disciplines to provide you with in-depth content and exploration through today’s most pressing problems.
STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY: Students For Liberty is a rapidly growing network of pro-liberty students from all over the world. Our mission is to educate, develop, and empower the next generation of leaders of liberty. Learn more at studentsforliberty.org💸 How Modern Monetary Theory Threatens the DollarLearn Liberty2024-06-24 | The United States government is, yet again, facing a budget crisis.
️🔥 Watch Prof. Davies' Latest Video: 7 MYTHS ABOUT THE GREAT DEPRESSION - youtu.be/q4ZMMH6LxXc ️🔥
🎙️ Professor Davies also co-hosts a PODCAST! Find him and James R. Harrigan in the Words & Numbers podcast: wordsandnumbers.libsyn.com 🎙️
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is an economic school of thought based on John Maynard Keynes's writings which has provided theoretical legitimacy to policymaking based on deficit spending. The theory goes that because modern states control currency and have the power to levy taxes, they can print as much money as they want.
In this video, we enlist Professor Antony Davies to explain why real-world economics aren't so simple - and why, under this theory supported by politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Bernie Sanders, we would end up with more hand grenades and fewer avocadoes.
Of course, MMTers, led by Professor Stephanie Kelton, a senior economic advisor to the Sanders presidential campaigns, make impassioned arguments, too. So what do you think? Watch our analysis, do some research of your own, and tell us in the comments: Is Modern Monetary Theory valid, or would it lead to financial ruin?
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.Why Increasing Tax Rates on the Rich Leads to Less Tax Revenue💰Learn Liberty2024-06-24 | Professor Antony Davies explains the many miss-understandings about Government Debt.
️🔥 For more content like this watch Prof. Antony Davies' Answers to the Most Googled Economics Questions: youtu.be/NVv_StQXHSI ️🔥
🎙️ Professor Davies also co-hosts a PODCAST! Find him and James R. Harrigan in the Words & Numbers podcast: wordsandnumbers.libsyn.com 🎙️
Myth number one, the government owes $20 trillion. How much is $20 trillion? Suppose you go to Germany, and in Germany, you go to every town. In every town, you visit every store. In every store, you look at every shelf and grab everything that is for sale. The amount of money you spend will not be $20 trillion. If you go to Germany and then to France and you go to every town, and within every town, you go to every store. In every store, you look on every shelf and you buy everything. You still will not have spent $20 trillion. You can go to England and while you’re there, you can go to the North Countries and buy everything that’s for sale, and you still will not have spent $20 trillion. In fact, to spend $20 trillion, you have to go to every country in Europe, visit every town, in every town, go to every store. In every store, look on every shelf and buy everything. And then you will have spent about $20 trillion.
But the myth is that this is how much money the government owes. It turns out that there’s more, called unfunded obligations. Unfunded obligations is money the Federal Government has promised but which it does not and will not have the money to pay. Largely, this consists of promises of retirement and medical benefits. If you would take the present value of all the future promises of retirement and medical benefits the government has made and subtract from that the amount of money that’s in the government’s Social Security and Medicare trust funds, and then subtract from that the amount of money the Federal Government anticipates collecting under the current law from future Social Security and Medicare taxes, you will still have an amount of money left over that the government does not have.
LEARN MORE: How Big is the U.S. Debt? (video): A stunning visual representation of the ever-growing amount of debt and unfunded liabilities being accumulated by the federal government, narrated by Prof. Antony Davies. youtube.com/watch?v=kc_5D3W3hTo How Should Governments Deal With Debt? (video): Nations that spend themselves into debt face very difficult choices. Prof. Steve Davies describes the three main choices that governments have to fix their debt problems. youtube.com/watch?v=qLHsV2XsyLU Debts, Deficits, and Spending Cuts (video): Prof. Jeff Miron of Harvard University explains we should focus on reducing spending, rather than managing the deficit, if we want to reign-in the runaway national debt. youtube.com/watch?v=jAbLvGAFH2w
Students For Liberty has acquired Learn Liberty from the Institute for Humane Studies. Now your two favorite educational and skills development channels are integrated into one simple platform - bringing you the very best of the pro-liberty movement. Read More about this news: http://bit.ly/2Eyr9EA
Learn Liberty is the place to discover the ideas of a free society. We answer the big questions about what makes a society free and how we can improve the world we live in. Have we got all the answers? No - but we’ve got a lot of ideas.
What makes us different is that we collaborate with esteemed professors from a variety of academic disciplines to provide you with in-depth content and exploration through today’s most pressing problems.
STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY: Students For Liberty is a rapidly growing network of pro-liberty students from all over the world. Our mission is to educate, develop, and empower the next generation of leaders of liberty. Learn more at studentsforliberty.orgClassical Liberalism ExplainedLearn Liberty2024-06-24 | What is classical liberalism? It's a set of ideas that places the freedom of the individual as its central feature. Classical liberals disagree about many things, but they agree on ten 10 core principles. Learn more: http://bit.ly/1hb8EZG
Dr. Nigel Ashford explains the 10 core principles of the classical liberal & libertarian view of society and the proper role of government:
1) Liberty as the primary political value 2) Individualism 3) Skepticism about power 4) Rule of Law 5) Civil Society 6) Spontaneous Order 7) Free Markets 8) Toleration 9) Peace 10) Limited Government
LEARN MORE: Student opportunities: http://lrnlbty.co/A7y5Dt Dr. Ashford is Senior Program Officer at the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) at George Mason University.
LEARN LIBERTY Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://bit.ly/1UleLbPThe Hidden Truth Behind the US Healthcare SystemLearn Liberty2024-06-21 | How did healthcare in the U.S. get so messy, convoluted, and inefficient? Why is it so hard to know what a simple visit to the doctor - let alone a surgery - will cost?
We spoke with Michael Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. He enlightened us on the 'original sin' of healthcare policy, plus several other massively harmful government interventions that have set everyone back (like Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare). It's all led to one surefire result: that patients rarely get the treatment they deserve.
Instead of the basic, buyer-seller market dynamic of capitalism that provides customers so many options at grocery stores, government intervention has created something closer to socialism: an ever-growing web of conflicting incentives among doctors, insurers, and politicians.
As Cannon summarized, "Government intervention is creating so many problems in healthcare that the government has to intervene more and more and more, to try to solve the problems that it created."
This video also touches on some smaller, but still damaging, government interventions in healthcare: COBRA in 1986 and the Clintons' failed Health Security Act. And our story editor, Trevor Kraus, makes a cameo appearance to ask: Which group of people got screwed the most when the government tied health insurance to employment?
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.The History and Controversy of the Second Amendment in AmericaLearn Liberty2024-06-21 | The 2nd Amendment is so hotly debated in part because of the order of its two clauses: The prefatory clause: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State” and the operative clause: “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
In this video, Learn Liberty aruges that its wording should have been reversed — and elucidates 8 facts about the 2nd Amendment that you might not have realized.
CHAPTERS: 0:00 A Poorly Worded Amendment? 1:32 Fact #1: The roots of the 2nd Amendment can be traced to the English Bill of Rights of 1689. 3:37 Fact #2: The 2nd Amendment ALSO has roots in STATE constitutions. 5:59 Fact #3: The 2nd Amendment went through several drafts. 8:06 Fact #4: The 2nd Amendment has a “prefatory,” or “preface” clause, and an “operative” clause. 10:46 Fact #5: History has not looked kindly upon previous attempts to regulate guns. 12:33 Fact #6: The two major political parties used to be flipped on the interpretation and implementation of the 2nd Amendment. 14:40 Fact #7: There was another attack on the 2nd Amendment in 1994. 16:28 Fact #8: American police are increasingly militarized. 17:46 Last Thoughts
#2ndAmendment #FoundingFathers #gunrights
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.orgHow to Make Informed DecisionsLearn Liberty2024-06-21 | We all use heuristics to make everyday decisions — but sometimes they blind us to the truth. So we need to do something that doesn’t come easy: accept that our ideas might be wrong.
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.TERM LIMITS: Shaking Up Politicians & Restoring DemocracyLearn Liberty2024-05-15 | Elected office was never supposed to be your full career The founding fathers when they were writing the Constitution weren't thinking these officeholders are going to be here for 50 60 years and that's going to be their entire life They were supposed to be integrated into their communities hold a job be with their families serve their community and then return to their community And that's not where we are right now So often when people enter office they come in for good reasons And when they get into office they work on it It takes a while to adjust to the political world And then after some amount of time they can try to make that change But the thing is if you let people be in office much longer than that they're not there to make a change
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.TERM LIMITS: Why Democrats, Republicans, and Independents AgreeLearn Liberty2024-05-15 | When Democrats and Republicans can agree on something probably there's a reason Time isn't a partisan issue Years aren't a partisan issue I think we can all get behind the idea that 12 years is enough if you're a Democrat a Republican or an Independent I mean even the Green Bay Packers have written into their bylaws that the general manager has to leave at age 70 Why can't voters in New York have that Come on We need people to stand up and say that they want term limits to their legislators
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.How Incumbency Advantage Dominates Politics: The Uphill Battle for New ChallengersLearn Liberty2024-05-15 | So when someone is an incumbent for a really long time they can over time build up an incredible war chest that allows them to stay in office And then once they've built up that kind of infrastructure it can be really hard for someone new to break into that system Politicians once they have the incumbency advantage and they're running consistently as the person who's already in the seat they can win elections over and over again It is very hard for someone to come in and challenge them and boot them out of power
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.Politicians Are Out of Touch: Heres how we fix thatLearn Liberty2024-05-15 | In this video, we delve into the troubling history of political office in New York, highlighting recent scandals and the broader issue of politicians losing touch with their constituents. The video features an in-depth discussion on the necessity of implementing term limits for statewide offices, advocating for a system where elected officials are more integrated into their communities rather than making a lifelong career out of politics.
The discussion includes alarming statistics from recent polls showing that a majority of New Yorkers believe the state is headed in the wrong direction, with many considering leaving due to the dysfunctional political climate. The video argues for term limits as a means to end the perpetual campaign cycle, allowing politicians to focus on complex and crucial issues rather than mere electoral survival.
Key points covered include the benefits of term limits, such as fostering new voices and perspectives in politics, reducing incumbency advantages, and enhancing the democratic process through structural reforms like ranked choice voting and open primaries. The call to action emphasizes the overwhelming bipartisan support for term limits across the United States and encourages viewers to advocate for these changes to their legislators.
Join us as we explore how term limits could transform politics in New York and beyond, making government more responsive and representative of the people it serves.Did you know passports didnt exist before World War I? 🛂🌍Learn Liberty2024-03-07 | The war that remade the world order … isn’t the one you think. World War I established our notion of global governance, passports, altered the money we use (and even gave us facism).
And yet, before researching this video, this student of American public schooling could remember just two things about The Great War: ... espionage and Franz Ferdinand. (And that's largely thanks to the early 2000s rock band.)
So I decided to dig deeper, and here are 12 fascinating legacies of World War I I found that we still live with today.
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.Are Passports a Limitation to Freedom? 🛂🌍Learn Liberty2024-03-07 | The war that remade the world order … isn’t the one you think. World War I established our notion of global governance, passports, altered the money we use (and even gave us facism).
And yet, before researching this video, this student of American public schooling could remember just two things about The Great War: ... espionage and Franz Ferdinand. (And that's largely thanks to the early 2000s rock band.)
So I decided to dig deeper, and here are 12 fascinating legacies of World War I I found that we still live with today.
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.🔥💥 World War I: The Shocking Economic Impact That Made the U.S the Leading Creditor!Learn Liberty2024-03-07 | LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.12 SHOCKING Ways WORLD WAR I Still Shapes Our World TodayLearn Liberty2024-02-29 | The war that remade the world order … isn’t the one you think. World War I established our notion of global governance, passports, altered the money we use (and even gave us facism).
And yet, before researching this video, this student of American public schooling could remember just two things about The Great War: ... espionage and Franz Ferdinand. (And that's largely thanks to the early 2000s rock band.)
So I decided to dig deeper, and here are 12 fascinating legacies of World War I I found that we still live with today.
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.How the Super Bowl became such a big dealLearn Liberty2024-02-11 | ...LibertyCon International: Day ThreeLearn Liberty2024-02-04 | The largest international pro-liberty gathering in the world will be streaming live on X/Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, and Twitch starting Sunday, February 4th at 9:30AM EST.LibertyCon International: Day TwoLearn Liberty2024-02-04 | The largest international pro-liberty gathering in the world will be streaming live on X/Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, and Twitch starting Friday, February 2nd at 9:00AM EST.LibertyCon International: Day TwoLearn Liberty2024-02-03 | The largest international pro-liberty gathering in the world will be streaming live on X/Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, and Twitch starting Friday, February 2nd at 9:00AM EST.LibertyCon International: Day OneLearn Liberty2024-02-03 | The largest international pro-liberty gathering in the world will be streaming live on X/Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, and Twitch starting Friday, February 2nd at 7:00PM EST.The Unsustainable Reality of Social Security and MedicareLearn Liberty2024-01-13 | Learn Liberty sat down with John Stossel for a freewheeling interview, touching on his childhood, career, current events, Edward Snowden, rapid-fire questions, and more.
John gave thoughtful takes, hot takes, and funny takes. See the Chapters below for the questions we asked him.
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.orgWhy Printing Money Wont Solve Our Economic ProblemsLearn Liberty2024-01-12 | Inflation is the word of the day; rates in the United States have hit 40-year highs, and seemingly everyone is feeling the pain - from the gas pump to the grocery store.
️🔥 Watch Prof. Davies' Latest Video: 7 MYTHS ABOUT THE GREAT DEPRESSION - youtu.be/q4ZMMH6LxXc ️🔥
🎙️ Professor Davies also co-hosts a PODCAST! Find him and James R. Harrigan in the Words & Numbers podcast: wordsandnumbers.libsyn.com 🎙️
But with growing media attention also comes bad or misleading information.
To set the record straight, we brought in the heavy muscle: Learn Liberty's old friend Antony Davies, Associate Professor of Economics at Duquesne University, and co-host of the podcast Words and Numbers.
We teed him up with 10 myths - before factoring for inflation ;) - and then just … let him go. His answers, full of hard data and clear logic, didn't disappoint.
Some of the myths he debunked:
-"The price of this thing I buy went up. That's inflation."
-"Inflation is caused by corporate greed."
-"The President is responsible for inflation."
-"Everything at the supermarket is getting smaller. That's not factored in."
-"The Fed had to do SOMETHING to combat Covid."
-"The government can fight inflation by raising taxes."
LEARN LIBERTY: Your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes a society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in. Watch more at http://www.learnliberty.org/.