Creative video from Prof. Bryan Caplan explains Make Progress, Not Work.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fEbdgpIQ7n4]
(cross-post from Outrun Change.) A few highlights:
Why we are so much better off than 200 years ago? Explained in 3 minutes. Check out the video by Prof. Dierdre McCloskey:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0nsKBx77EQ&feature=player_embedded]
(Cross-posted from my other blog, Outrun Change.)
Here’s my 200 word summary of the video:
Until 1800, the average person made the inflation-adjusted equivalent to $3 a day. It’s been that way for thousands of years. Starting in 1800, a graph of average income looks like a hockey stick, going almost straight up after being flat for thousands of years.
Why?
Here’s the formula: compare life for the typical person today to 30, 100, 300 years ago. The things we take for granted to today would have been an unimaginable blessing back then. I get a kick out of that story line every time I see it.
The latest in a long line of examples is from Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek: Capitalism: The Greatest Engine of Equality. He ponders what a man from 1700 would think of a visit to Bill Gates. Just about every one of the astounding things observed by the visitor from 1700 is also available to almost every person living in the U.S.
(Cross-post from my other blog, Outrun Change.)
The driving force behind all of this?
Capitalism.
And property rights.
And a functional legal system.
And a functional democracy.
Read the full article. A few things that would have been beyond the wildest dream 300 years ago:
(more…)
From the promo:
Heads they win. Tails you lose.
Forget the rule book, they make the rules
Wannn’a compete. No! You’ll be rejected.
Get the Kronies! They’re Konnected!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZDXuPQ9ML9E]
Is it targeted federal subsidies? Breakthrough law from the Congress? Socialist industrial policy? Keynesian monetary policy? Blockbuster documentary from Hollywood that changed minds across the country? More support for college loans? A landmark special on network TV? Quantitative Easing?
No. It’s none of those things.
Barron’s is pondering the question as well: The Secret of U.S. Energy Success.
Federal subsidies have produced a substantial increase in some things. The editorial provides a partial list. Subsidies have given us…
..our national surpluses of grain, milk, unemployment, nonprofit companies, disabilities, and mortgage debt.
Those subsidies didn’t produce the massive increase in oil production in Bakken and Eagle Ford.
The best paragraph from the editorial: (more…)
As of the start of 2013, it is illegal to manufacture or import 40- and 60-watt incandescent light bulbs in the U.S. Last year the 75-watt bulbs were gone and the 100-watt the year before. The last of the smaller bulbs will be off the shelf.
Then you will only be able to buy more expensive bulbs that may or may not last a lot longer.
Why?
It isn’t to improve efficiency or save consumers money. That’s the excuse.
Blame crony capitalism. The ban is courtesy of businesses seeking favors from the government and the government happily granting said favors.
The answer is yes, according to Walter Williams, who says Profit Has Improved The Human Condition.
Of course, he explains when compared to heaven or a utopia where unicorns romp freely and all the food you want magically appears on your table every day, capitalism falls short. When compared to every other economic system on earth, it does wonders.
Apart from billions of people being lifted out of grinding poverty, let’s examine other changes relatively recent in our human history, like how it becomes possible to gather wealth. Mr. Williams says: (more…)
Previously mentioned a graph that illustrates the idea that socialists
would rather the poor were poorer provided the rich were less rich.
Here is a revised graph:
This is a much busier graph. Like the earlier graph, it is from Dave Poling and is used with his permission. Here are a thousand words to describe his graph.
It shows the same relationships –
In a generation, the poor become as well off as the middle were a generation earlier. The middle gains a lot and is as well off as the rich a generation earlier. And yes, the rich become really rich.
Under socialism, the rich, middle, and poor all get worse off.
An addition to this graph is the government and cronies. I call the latter group the crony capitalists, those companies and individuals who make their business thrive by lobbying the government and getting special treatment. They do quite nicely under socialism, thank you very much.
Since there is so much going on here, let’s look at the graphs in more detail.