This video is full of gross distortions and random statistics (I would like to see the source of her stats).
For starters: The U.S. government does not spend 50% of its tax revenue on the military. This is complete bullshit. According to the Congressional Budget Office, federal spending on the military has fallen from around 9% of GDP in 1962 to around 4% of GDP in 2007. Here is the link http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/88xx/doc8877/Chapter4.7.1.shtml
Another basic problem with her argument is that she takes over rate of consumption and extrapolates it across every other country in the world. The problem is that an increase in demand leads to an increase in prices of each of the underline commodities that she is talking about. When prices go up, consumption goes down. So her example ignores one of the very first topics that you would learn in ECON 101.
Also, she states that the government should be there to look out for us and protect us. While she wants the government to protect us, I want someone to protect us from the government. Ever since the New Deal, people have turned to the government for help. Ironically, it was the government that caused the Great Depression in the first place. The smaller the government’s role is in our lives, the more freedom we have has individuals.
The government’s role should be limited to the following:
1.) Providing national defense;
2.) enforcing the rule of law;
3.) keeping inflation low;
4.) enforcing free trade policies;
5.) enforcing property rights and contracts.
Anything above that (unless I forgot something) is not needed.
The bottom line is that you would be better off spending your time watching Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose series if you really wanted to know about how economics works. Here is a link to the program: http://www.ideachannel.tv/
1 Comments
Droze,
This video is full of gross distortions and random statistics (I would like to see the source of her stats).
For starters: The U.S. government does not spend 50% of its tax revenue on the military. This is complete bullshit. According to the Congressional Budget Office, federal spending on the military has fallen from around 9% of GDP in 1962 to around 4% of GDP in 2007. Here is the link http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/88xx/doc8877/Chapter4.7.1.shtml
Another basic problem with her argument is that she takes over rate of consumption and extrapolates it across every other country in the world. The problem is that an increase in demand leads to an increase in prices of each of the underline commodities that she is talking about. When prices go up, consumption goes down. So her example ignores one of the very first topics that you would learn in ECON 101.
Also, she states that the government should be there to look out for us and protect us. While she wants the government to protect us, I want someone to protect us from the government. Ever since the New Deal, people have turned to the government for help. Ironically, it was the government that caused the Great Depression in the first place. The smaller the government’s role is in our lives, the more freedom we have has individuals.
The government’s role should be limited to the following:
1.) Providing national defense;
2.) enforcing the rule of law;
3.) keeping inflation low;
4.) enforcing free trade policies;
5.) enforcing property rights and contracts.
Anything above that (unless I forgot something) is not needed.
The bottom line is that you would be better off spending your time watching Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose series if you really wanted to know about how economics works. Here is a link to the program: http://www.ideachannel.tv/
Enjoy,
Debo